Written answers
Tuesday, 5 November 2019
Department of Children and Youth Affairs
Departmental Budgets
Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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997. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the breakdown of funding announced in budget 2020 (details supplied); the amount allocated to each stream; the way in which funding for each stream is to be dispensed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44754/19]
Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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An additional €54m of funding has been allocated to Early Years policies and programmes in Estimates 2020. This represents a year-on-year increase of 9%, and a total growth of the Early Years allocation of c. 138% since 2014.
This significant investment of public money will support the provision of affordable, accessible and quality ELC & SAC in Ireland. It has been allocated to the purposes specified as follows:
Area of Expenditure | 2020 Allocation | Change to allocation |
|---|---|---|
| The introduction of the NCS; and an increased level of uptake for both the universal under 3 subsidy and targeted subsidies to families | €197.2m | +€40m |
| Meeting the continuing cost of two years of ECCE | €297m | -€1.1m |
| Increased funding for beneficiary elements of the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) | €31.4m | +€10m |
| An increase in allocation for Tusla’s Early Years Inspectorate | €5.1m | +€0.7m |
| Meeting additional costs associated with delivery of the schemes and the implementation of First 5 | €50.5m | +€5.6m |
| Supporting quality in the sector and improving the sustainability of services | €14.4m | +€2.5m |
Increases to these allocations captured in the table above were offset by savings identified across Early Years Subheads of c. €3.7m.
This allocation Reflects the slightly lower number of children who will be eligible for ECCE in 2020 due to the decreasing birth rate.
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