Written answers

Wednesday, 7 November 2018

Department of Children and Youth Affairs

Childcare Costs

Photo of James BrowneJames Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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22. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her plans to develop targeted supports for parents and guardians in County Wexford paying for childcare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45828/18]

Photo of Katherine ZapponeKatherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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As previously advised to the Deputy in Parliamentary Question 37905-18 (20th September 2018) my Department’s childcare schemes are run on a national basis and hence are available to all counties. The staff and Boards of 30 City and County Childcare Committees assist my Department in ensuring that schemes and other initiatives we operate nationally meet local need.

The Government is committed to continuing to increase investment in high-quality childcare, prioritising families on low incomes. As part of our commitment to improving access to high quality and affordable childcare we have introduced a number of new developments:-

The universal Early Childhood Care and Education  programme (ECCE) has been expanded to two full programme years from September 2018.

A new universal subvention payment worth up to €1040 per annum for children under 3 was introduced from September 2017.

A variety of targeted programmes provide for the most vulnerable children in Ireland and reinforce our strong social inclusion and equality agenda. The Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) Programme is a childcare programme targeted to support parents/guardians on a low income to avail of reduced childcare costs at participating community childcare services.

This scheme was expanded to the Community Childcare Subvention Plus (CCSP) Programme to enable privately owned childcare services to provide the same level of targeted subvention childcare for lower income families.

My Department is making strong progress in developing the new Affordable Childcare Scheme. The ACS will replace all of the existing targeted schemes. Officials from my Department, along with colleagues in Pobal, have been working to develop the legal, technical and administrative infrastructure required.

The scheme will provide financial support for parents, establish a sustainable platform for investment in the childcare sector for decades to come, and crucially allow us to continue to invest in giving our children the best start in life.

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