Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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833. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the full year cost of the ACS as currently modelled. [12028/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The full year cost of the Affordable Childcare Scheme will be approximately €150 million. This new scheme will make childcare more affordable, and will enable both universal and targeted subsidies for parents towards their childcare costs.

Approximately 79,000 children will benefit from the new scheme in its first year including 25,000 children who will benefit from the universal subsidy. An estimated 54,000 will benefit from the targeted subsidies, including 31,500 children who already receive support under the current targeted subsidy schemes and 22,500 new beneficiaries. Some of the new beneficiaries will already be availing of formal childcare but without any financial support from the State, at present.

Under the targeted element of the scheme, the maximum income threshold ensures that all families within the bottom five income deciles that are using regulated childcare should receive some level of support. However, the scheme also provides a flexible platform for future investment, allowing income thresholds and subsidy rates to be adjusted over time so as to expand support to more families.