Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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51. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the affordable childcare schemes available to low and middle-income families; the status of the new affordable childcare scheme that was first announced in 2016; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6985/19]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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In recent years, I have secured significantly increased investment in early learning and care (ELC) and school age childcare (SAC) services. The measures announced as part of Budget 2019 formed part of a trend in continued growth in childcare investment bringing the total increase to 117% over 4 years.

My Department offers a number of programmes to support low and middle income families. These include:

Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE):

The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is a free pre-school programme available to all children within the eligible age range. From September 2018, all children meeting the minimum age requirement of 2 years and 8 months are eligible for a full two programme years. It provides children with a formal early learning experience prior to commencing primary school. The programme is provided three hours per day, five days per week, 38 weeks per year over the two years.

Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) and Community Childcare Subvention Plus (CCSP):

These programmes provide childcare funding support, targeting low income families, in community childcare services and private childcare services, relative to the status of the parent/s with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. They are available to children from six months to 15 years of age. For example, a parent in receipt of One Parent Family Payment may receive a maximum of €145 per week per child towards childcare fees.

Training and Employment Childcare (TEC) Programmes:

These programmes provide childcare funding support for parents participating in eligible Education and Training Boards /Solas vocational training courses, Community Employment (CE) programmes, or returning to employment The maximum subsidy provided is €145 per child per week. These subsidies are available for children up to 15 years of age.

- After-School Child Care Scheme(ASCC)- provides afterschool care for primary school children for certain categories of working parents and parents on Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection employment programmes (not including Community Employment).

- Childcare Education and Training Support (CETS) - provides childcare to certain training course participants on courses provided by the Education and Training Boards (ETB, formerly FAS and VEC) and Secondary Schools.

- Community Employment Childcare (CEC) - provides per-school (PS) and after-school (AS) childcare for children of parents who are participating in Community Employment schemes.

Universal Subsidy (CCSU):

As part of its plan to make childcare more affordable, my Department introduced a universal subvention payment from September 2017. This subsidy is available for all parents who are not in receipt of any other childcare subsidy for children aged from 6 months to the first eligible point of entry to the ECCE programme (approximately 3 years of age).

Community Childcare Subvention Resettlement (CCSR):

This programme provides up to 60 weeks of childcare support on a part-time basis to Programme Refugees to support their resettlement and integration into Irish society, up to 5 days per week for children aged 0 – 5 years and for primary school going children during the school holidays. The parents are not charged a fee.

Community Childcare Subvention Resettlement (Transitional) (CCSR(T)): As part of the “Rebuilding Ireland – an Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness” the DCYA provides access to free childcare on a part-time and sessional basis for pre-school children (ages 0 – 5 years) and primary school children during the school holidays of families experiencing homelessness. In addition, a daily meal is provided for each child. The parents are not charged a fee.

Further to the above, the development of the Affordable Childcare Scheme continues and the Scheme will launch this October, with payments commencing in November. An external IT contractor is working with officials from DCYA and Pobal to develop the Scheme’s supporting IT system and this project is on schedule.

The Childcare Support Act, which is the legislative basis for the scheme, was signed into law by the President in July. Detailed secondary legislation and policy guidelines are currently being finalised. On the 20th of December I also signed regulations which will provide, for the first time, for the registration of school-age childcare services. These regulations will come into force on the 18th of February and will allow these services to participate in the Scheme from the very start.

As part of Budget 2019, the income threshold levels used for assessing the level of subsidy to which a parent may be entitled were raised. The lower threshold was raised from €22,700 to €26,000, meaning that more families will avail of the maximum income-related subsidies.

A comprehensive programme of communications and training is planned throughout 2019 in advance of the launch of the scheme in October and I look forward to engaging with all of the stakeholders as the launch date approaches.