Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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546. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the capital allocation for her Department in each of the years 2019 to 2023; the areas in which this will be spent in each of these years; and the details of particular projects and areas of investment. [13786/18]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The National Development Plan sets out the Government`s capital investment priorities that will underpin the new National Planning Framework. My Department has been allocated €156 million in capital expenditure over the period 2018-2022 under the Plan as set out in the following table. The Deputy might note that the provisions for my Department in the years post-2022 will be allocated through the annual Estimates process as the rolling five-year multi-annual ceilings are updated.

PLAN

It is not possible at this time to identify specific projects that will be funded under the Plan but the resources will support continued investment in the following areas:

- Childcare, to ensure quality and supply of sufficient childcare places

- Youth services that support and target disadvantaged young people and improve their employability

- Tusla, through the continued development of ICT and standards of accommodation, and

- Oberstown Children Detention Campus through the provision of safe and secure places.

In addition to this, the Plan also contains a commitment to provide an additional €250 million to support the implementation of a 10 year, cross-Government Early Years Strategy to be published in 2018. One of the core objectives of this strategy will be to increase the proportion of children who have access to high quality, early years care and education. Officials in my Department are currently examining possibilities for a multi-annual capital programme for childcare as well as research on existing capital holdings and future capital needs for the sector, at national and local level. Once gathered, this data will be used to inform large-scale, targeted capital investments in childcare.