Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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203. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of private sector childcare facilities that benefitted from capital grants under the National Childcare Investment Programme 2006 to 2010; the number of these childcare facilities which are still operating in 2018; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49940/18]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The NCIP (National Childcare Investment Programme, 2006 - 2010) Capital Programme was a strategic infrastructural programme within the childcare sector with an aim to address local needs and meet local demands in the provision of childcare places.

Under the NCIP, the maximum funding available per childcare facility for community-based groups was €1.2m; for private providers, the maximum funding available per childcare facility was €100,000, with a ceiling of €500,000 per applicant across multiple facilities. Private providers were required under the programme to contribute at least 25% of the total cost of the capital project.

The total number of childcare facilities funded under the NCIP Capital Programme was 847.

501 of these were private providers, receiving a total of €33m in funding.

A total of €177.8m was awarded under the programme, to both private and community services.

Depending on the scale of the individual grant in question, grants under the NCIP were awarded on the condition that services remain in operation for a period from three years (for grants of €30,000 or less) to twenty years (for grants of €1m or more) following the grant award.

Pobal manage the operation of capital childcare programmes and contracting on behalf of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. Since 2010, a total of €883,233 in capital payments have been recouped by the state due to closures, decommitals, etc. under the NCIP. The following figures have been provided by Pobal and show the break-down of capital recoupments as follows:

At present it is not possible to provide an accurate number of services that received funding under the NCIP, both community and private, that remain in operation to this day. This is a complex task due in part to changes in addresses, ownership circumstances and reference numbers for many services.

As part of planning for future capital investment in childcare, my Department is having due regard to the performance and operation of previous large scale capital investment programmes, including closures and de-committals of childcare services where state interests exist. This exercise will help inform our plans looking forward for investment in childcare over the next ten years.