Written answers

Tuesday, 28 March 2017

Department of Children and Youth Affairs

Child Care Services Provision

Photo of Maureen O'SullivanMaureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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57. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her plans to include childminders under the affordable child care scheme; and if she is satisfied that the scheme is adequate to address Ireland's disproportionate child care costs in comparison with other EU states. [15031/17]

Photo of Katherine ZapponeKatherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The Affordable Childcare Scheme will be open to all Tusla-registered childcare providers on an equal basis. In addition to more than 4,000 centre-based childcare providers, which operate independently in a market context, all Tusla-registered childminders will also be eligible to participate in this Scheme. It is acknowledged however, that the number of Tusla-registered childminders is currently small. In order to meet the needs of parents whose preference is to use a childminder, and to build capacity to cater for increased demand in future years, my Department has established a Working Group on Childminders. This Working Group, which is chaired by Childminding Ireland, and includes officials from Tusla and my Department, will make recommendations on reforms and supports necessary for the childminding sector in the short, medium and long term. As part of their deliberations, the Working Group will consider the reforms and supports necessary to enable the cohort of childminders who are not currently eligible to participate in the Affordable Childcare Scheme to do so.

In relation to the Deputy's question on addressing childcare costs, the Affordable Childcare Scheme will replace the existing targeted childcare subsidisation schemes with a single, streamlined scheme which is more user-friendly for both parents and providers. The new scheme will make childcare more affordable, and will enable both universal and targeted subsidies for parents towards their childcare costs. Targeted subsidies will be available for children aged from 6 months up to 15 years and will address families’ full-time and part-time childcare needs, including outside of school hours and during school holiday time. The level of subsidy will vary based on the parent’s income, with the highest levels of subsidy provided to those on the lowest incomes, helping families to overcome disadvantage and contributing to a reduction in child poverty.

The impact of the scheme on affordability depends on the subsidy rates and income thresholds set within the scheme, which reflect the level of public funding available. Budget 2017 allocated an additional €19m on top of funding from the existing targeted schemes. As a result of the subsidy rates and income-thresholds proposed for the initial rollout of the scheme, I expect that the majority of current beneficiaries will see an increase in their level of subsidy. In addition there will be a significant increase in the number of families that will benefit from subsidised childcare for the first time, including up to 25,000 families that will receive the universal subsidy.

The Affordable Childcare Scheme is intended to provide a robust and flexible framework for future public investment. Any future increases in the level of public investment will allow for additional support to further improve the affordability of childcare. Further investment may be used to increase income-thresholds and subsidy-rates in the scheme.

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