Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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642. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her views on a matter (details supplied) regarding early years education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8797/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I believe that staff in the childcare sector have a critical role to play in delivering high quality childcare services and that they deserve to be valued and respected for the important role they play with our children. Because childcare costs to parents in Ireland are one of the highest in the OECD, we need to address affordability and quality at the same time. My Department is not an employer of childcare workers but it is a significant funder of childcare services. I am very conscious that there is an issue with regard to the pay and conditions of workers in the sector and my Department is engaging with the early years sector to explore how this can be addressed in the short, medium and long term.

The Programme for Government commits to carrying out an independent review of the cost of providing quality childcare. This commitment aligns closely with work on the design and development of a new Single Affordable Childcare Scheme, and we are progressing this work in that context. The review will feed into future policy development, including in relation to levels of payments to services.

I am pleased that the last two budgets delivered a 35% increase each year in funding for childcare. In Budget 2017, this amounted to an increase of €121.5m for Early Years, increasing investment from €345m per annum to €466.5m. This represents an additional €86m for the full year 2017 costs of the extension of ECCE, the further roll out of the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) within ECCE and, €35.5 for further measures to address affordability and quality. For the first time, total early years spending (including spending on infant classes in primary schools) will now exceed €1 billion per year. We need to continue to invest and I will be arguing for further increase in funding in Budget 2018.

To go some way towards addressing cost pressures faced by providers in the sector, I have secured €10m to enable providers to be paid for non-contact time, where they will have no children present and they will be able to pay staff to concentrate on administrative workload. Services themselves can decide how to use the payment when it is received. For the average ECCE service with 25 children, this will mean an additional annual payment of approximately €2,400 per annum. We are also giving additional funding to CCS and TEC providers on a pro-rata basis to acknowledge their administrative burden.

The Affordable Childcare Scheme, when introduced, will replace CCS and TEC and will have recognition of non-contact time built into its cost base. In addition, I made provision under Budget 2017 for a fund of €1m to assist in the investigation of sustainability issues being faced by childcare providers, and to develop a policy to guide any future interventions.

I want to reiterate my respect for childcare professionals, and I am committed to addressing these issues effectively. As the Deputy may know, I established the Early Years Forum shortly after my appointment, and my Department and I will continue to engage with the sector on these important matters. The next meeting of the Forum is scheduled to take place on March 6th, 2017.