Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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1961. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the amount that has been spent on marketing the affordable child care scheme to date in 2017. [28593/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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As I have previously announced, the Affordable Childcare Scheme (ACS) will not be introduced in September 2017, but will be introduced at the earliest possible date.

However, I do not want to delay the benefit of higher childcare subsidies for families. I am pleased to confirm that major improvements in childcare subsidies will therefore come into effect this September, including increases of up to 50% in targeted childcare subsidy rates and a new universal childcare subsidy for children aged between 6 months and 36 months. September’s changes will be delivered through existing childcare schemes, pending the introduction of the Affordable Childcare Scheme.

Childcare subsidies will be provided directly to Tusla-registered childcare providers. All Tusla-registered childcare providers, community and private, can sign up to provide these schemes, ensuring accessibility throughout the country in a range of services to suit the needs of parents.

In order to raise awareness among both childcare providers and parents, I promised a comprehensive public information campaign before the end of May. I am delighted to report that each childcare provider in the country received an information pack on the changes to the schemes I have just outlined. In addition City/County Childcare Committees have been briefed in order to offer local support to childcare providers and officials from the my Department have commenced a series of information events throughout the country. A dedicated website has also been launched (). Since its launch to the public on the 30th May, this website has received over one hundred thousand page views from more than thirty thousand individuals. An awareness campaign via various media, including digital and radio, is also underway.

The overall costs for running the awareness and information campaign for childcare providers and parents is estimated to cost just under €118,000 (Inc. VAT). This cost is inclusive of all design, materials, postage, digital content, information presented on local and national radio as well as the dedicated website which will continue to provide a source of information to childcare providers and parents in the run up to September and until the Affordable Childcare Scheme commences.

The information campaign is on-going so as to raise awareness of the childcare support schemes and subsidies available to parents ahead of their rollout in September. This campaign will also assist with the eventual roll out of the Affordable Childcare Scheme and I am satisfied that it is a worthwhile and necessary exercise to ensure that parents are informed of the enhanced childcare supports available to them from September and that childcare providers feel confident and prepared for the changes made to the existing schemes to deliver these supports to families.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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1962. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the amount that has been spent on website design and creation for the affordable child care scheme to date in 2017. [28594/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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As I have previously announced, the Affordable Childcare Scheme (ACS) will not be introduced in September 2017, but will be introduced at the earliest possible date.

However, I do not want to delay the benefit of higher childcare subsidies for families. I am pleased to confirm that major improvements in childcare subsidies will therefore come into effect this September, including increases of up to 50% in targeted childcare subsidy rates and a new universal childcare subsidy for children aged between 6 months and 36 months. September’s changes will be delivered through existing childcare schemes, pending the introduction of the ACS.

In order to raise awareness among both childcare providers and parents, I promised a comprehensive public information campaign before the end of May. I am delighted to report that each childcare provider in the country received an information pack on the changes to the schemes I have just outlined. In addition City/County Childcare Committees have been briefed in order to offer local support to childcare providers and officials from the DCYA have commenced a series of information events throughout the country.

A website () was also developed, which aims to present clear and accessible information for parents and providers regarding the measures commencing this September to make childcare more affordable. Since its launch to the public on the 30 May, the website has received over one hundred thousand page views from more than thirty thousand individuals. The total cost for designing and developing the website was €6,360. We expect to utilise the website as a vehicle for information regarding these measures up until the introduction of the ACS.