Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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502. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of providers that benefitted from capital funding allocated for the creation of additional childcare places by county in each of the years 2016 to 2018 and to date in 2019; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17476/19]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Creating new childcare places and increasing the capacity of the childcare sector in Ireland continues to be a top priority for the Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare Capital programmes. In recent cycles, a significant portion of the overall capital allocation has been reserved each year for this purpose.

As you may be aware, this year's Early Learning and Care and School Age Capital programmes are currently in the appraisal stage, with decisions due to be confirmed in June 2019. Therefore, no grants have yet been allocated under this measure for any purpose.

However, the budget for Strands A (Creation of new 0-3 places) and C (Creation of new school age places) have been set at €4.231m and €1m, respectively.

In 2016, 978 providers benefitted from capital grants allocated to support the addition of new childcare places.

In 2017, 246 providers benefitted from capital grants allocated for the creation of new childcare places. In 2018, the equivalent figure was 118.

Tables prepared by Pobal providing more detailed information, including county-by-county breakdown of funding, are available at the following link: