Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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1647. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her attention has been drawn to the fact that many child care providers have not signed up to provide the single affordable childcare scheme and the burden that this is placing on parents; and the steps she will take to address this issue. [37230/17]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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1648. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her attention has been drawn to the fact that many persons will be unable to access the single affordable childcare scheme due to the fact there are no available places in crèches providing the scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37231/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1647 and 1648 together.

On 11 April I made an announcement that the Affordable Childcare Scheme would not commence this September but that a range of measures would be introduced in September by my Department to make childcare more affordable for thousands of families throughout Ireland. This honours a key commitment in the Programme for Government.

As part of these 'September measures', a new universal subsidy is available for all children aged between 6 months and 3 years of age (or until they qualify for ECCE if later than 36 months) in registered childcare. This amounts to as much as €20 a week or €1,040 per year for children in full time childcare. The ‘September measures’ relates to the introduction of the Universal payment and the increase in band rates across the different strands of the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) Scheme.

I am pleased to inform the Deputies that as of September 7 2792 services are in contract to provide CCS Plus.

This represents over 75% of eligible providers, based on the numbers of providers who have previously contracted with the Department (excluding those who only provide the ECCE scheme). That number continues to rise.

I am keenly aware of the pressures on the sector with regard to availability of places and my Department has provided €8.4 million for its 2017 Early Years Capital funding programme. This represents a doubling of the €4 million provided under the 2016 Early Years Capital Funding Programme. This funding has been made available to early years providers under three strands, the largest of which (€4.2 million) will go towards enabling early years services to provide additional childcare places. The maximum grant available under Strand 1 is €50,000 which will allow for the full cost of a minor expansion project in an early years service, or for the purchase of a temporary structure. 89 projects have been approved for funding under Strand 1. In addition to this, my Department has also provided €4 million for its 2017 School Age Childcare Capital programme. This funding has been made available under three strands, and it is expected to create an additional 5,000 places. The maximum grant available under Strand A is €20,000 which is for the creation of new School Age childcare services, the maximum grant available under Strand B is €10,000 which is for the expansion of existing School age childcare services. 113 projects have been approved for funding under Strand A, while 112 projects have been approved for funding under Strand B.

My Department will also be conducting a review of capacity through the City and County Childcare Committees to identify where pressure points might exist, and based on this information will consider other possible measures to address these pressures.

I am committed to ensuring that childcare is affordable, accessible and of a high quality.