Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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84. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs when the national childcare scheme will be fully operational and open to all parents. [43240/19]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The National Childcare Scheme will open to online applications on Wednesday 20th November, with subsidies flowing from the following Monday, 25th November.  The paper based application will be available early in the new year. Children and families using the existing schemes may choose to remain on them.

In preparation for the national launch of the  Scheme in November, we have been piloting the IT system since 16th September.  The pilot has been highly valuable, allowing us to identify and address a number of issues. 

Last week I signalled that a minor snag had been identified which blocked a small number of applications from proceeding through the system.  This has required a few additional weeks to address the issue and retest the system. 

I am pleased that we now plan for the Scheme to open for applications on the 20th of November.  We expect around 65,000 children to benefit from the targeted component, and a further 15 - 20,000 children to be on the universal scheme. It is estimated that 7,000 children will benefit for the first time.

The pilot will continue for the coming weeks. Parents participating in the pilot will be able to register and use their subsidy award once the Scheme opens.  We are also inviting providers to complete programme readiness activities in advance of the full launch so that they are ready to go when parents come to them with their awards and so that subsidies can flow as quickly as possible.  

I believe that allowing these extra few weeks before launching the National Childcare Scheme is the right thing to do.  The Scheme is a highly innovative landmark initiative.  It is our pathway to quality, accessible, affordable childcare in Ireland, and platform to support long-term investment in universal and targeted supports. 

Parents and providers deserve a robust system and a positive user experience when accessing the Scheme.  It is too important for families not to deliver the best possible Scheme and system. 

Parents with any queries regarding the National Childcare Scheme are encouraged to check our website e or to phone our Parent Information line at 01 9068530.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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85. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if a national childcare service free at the point of use that meets the needs of all children in society will be introduced. [43218/19]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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First 5, the whole-of-government strategy for babies, young children and their families published in November 2018 sets out Government's intention to develop a new Funding Model to deliver additional funding to Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare providers to ensure greater levels of affordability, quality and inclusion in their services. It is planned that the new Funding Model will operate in addition to the major funding streams for the universal pre-school Early Childhood Care and Education programme and the National Childcare Scheme when it comes into operation later this year.

An Expert Group to lead the development of a new Funding Model has been appointed and a Research Partnership will support the Expert Group with evidence and analysis as well as engagement and consultation work.  A key priority for the Expert Group will be to make recommendations for a mechanism to control fee rates for different types of provision for Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare. The Expert Group will hold its first meeting this month beginning a complex project that is likely to take some time to bring to fruition.  Further updates will be available as the work progresses in the coming months.

The new Funding Model will be a key vehicle to achieve the vision of Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare services that are equipped to provide high-quality services for children, affordability to parents and sustainability for providers.

Budget 2020 saw a further 9.3% increase in investment in early learning and care and school-age childcare. Additional investment of €54.5m will bring annual spend to just over €628m per annum. This represents a 138% increase since 2014.

The additional investment provides for some further enhancements to the new National Childcare Scheme, including an increase in the maximum subsidised hours from September 2020 and the extension of “saver” arrangements for those in receipt of subsidies under the current schemes. The National Childcare Scheme will replace all previous targeted childcare programmes with a single, streamlined and user-friendly Scheme.  In line with the principle of progressive universalism, it will provide both universal and targeted subsidies to help parents meet the cost of quality childcare.

The NCS, combined with the ECCE universal pre-school scheme, marks significant progress in making high quality and affordable childcare ore accessible to families in Ireland.