Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

874. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if ECCE services will be able to operate at full capacity in September 2020; and if not, the percentage of their previous capacity they will be able to operate. [7657/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

876. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she has considered introducing temporary measures in order to bring additional ECCE capacity on stream more quickly in view of the possible deficit of places which may arise as a result of Covid-19. [7659/20]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 874 and 876 together.

On Friday 1 May, the Government released its Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business, which sets out Ireland's plan for lifting COVID-19 restrictions through five phases. The re-opening of Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare (ELC and SAC) services will be guided by this framework and will be underpinned by the Government's Return to Work Safely Protocol, expert advice, available evidence and consultation with ELC and SAC stakeholder representatives and providers themselves.

The sector has many questions regarding how the Roadmap will be implemented to enable services to re-open. While the COVID-19 emergency called for overnight action on closures, it is my ambition that the phased re-opening will enable sufficient time and planning to re-open in an orderly, safe and sustainable manner. I would like to reassure providers, practitioners, parents and children that I will be doing my utmost to support the sector in offering as smooth a transition as possible to the phased and restricted re-opening of ELC and SAC services.

My Department is currently working with the sector to answer the many questions that exist, including, as referred to by the Deputy, the issues around capacity and how for example the ECCE programme may operate from September. This is complex work and must balance a number of important issues. My Department has sought public health advice in relation to the plans being put forward. Informed by this advice, consideration is being given to a range of these issues, including:

- Minimising the public health risk, especially given the difficulty of maintaining social distancing among young children and those caring for them,

- Ensuring the need for any restrictions to be consistent with young children’s well-being and development needs and for ELC and SAC provision at each phase to be child-centred

- Providing ELC for pre-school children, meeting parental demand for ELC and SAC as the economy reopens, and meeting the commitment to retain places for families who paid for ELC and SAC before COVID-19, all while restricting capacity and thereby reducing adult-child ratios.

- Ensuring financial sustainability of the sector when capacity restrictions limit income and parents cannot afford to cover any higher costs with higher fees.

- Ensuring a sufficient number of qualified ELC and SAC practitioners, given likelihood of reduced adult-child ratios and existing challenges with recruitment and retention.

I am actively engaging with key stakeholders in the sector to make sure that the work on re-opening services is informed by the practical reality across the country. I have established and Chair an Advisory Group that includes representatives chosen by the sector, specifically the Association of Childhood Professionals, Community Forum, Early Childhood Ireland, National Childhood Network, PLÉ and Seas Suas. The group also includes Tusla, Pobal, SIPTU and Childminding Ireland. The first meeting of this Advisory Group took place on 13 May and I held follow up meetings on 15, 19 and 26 May. A schedule of weekly meetings has also been agreed.

I am also establishing a Reference Group to widen the scope of consultation with the ELC and SAC sector, to supplement the work of the Advisory Group and to give an opportunity to provider representatives who are not represented on this group to make their views known to me and my officials. I hope to hold periodic meetings of the Group as we work through the phased reopening of the ELC and SAC sector. The first meeting of the Reference Group will be held on Thursday, 28 May 2020.

In collaboration with this Advisory Group, officials in my Department are undertaking primary research which is currently being rolled out in order to help us forecast supply and demand in the sector for safely delivering early learning and care and school age childcare in the coming months. Arising from that work, my Department will seek to identify ways to maximise capacity in the best interests of children and parents, while meeting the need to ensure that services re-open safely.

The proposals for re-opening in Phase 3, which are at an advanced stage, will have due regard to public health guidance over the phases of easing of restrictions. I am conscious that the proposed timelines are subject to further NPHET advice, and decisions from Government. Once the plans for Phase 3 and 4 are finalised, my Department will place a greater focus on resumption of ECCE.

There are a number of key decisions to be made across Government that will impact significantly on the ELC and SAC sector, including the future of emergency measures such as the Revenue operated Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection operated Pandemic Unemployment Payment, and other business supports. The proposals for re-opening ELC and SAC services necessarily interact with these schemes and so I will be relying on whole of Government plans, which impact the ELC and SAC sector.

It is my fervent hope that every ELC and SAC service around the country is currently considering how it can be part of helping Ireland get back to work, and how it can support children from 29 June in the very difficult circumstances they have experienced in recent months.

I will undertake to update the Deputy as soon as the work on re-opening services is at a more advanced stage.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

875. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of children expected to enrol in ECCE services from September 2020, by county. [7658/20]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The COVID-19 Pandemic has created major challenges for Ireland. The closure of centre-based Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Age Childcare (SAC) services including those providing Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) services on 12 March was an unexpected but necessary move to safeguard public health in Ireland.

On Friday 1 May, the Government published the Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business, which sets out Ireland's plan for lifting COVID-19 restrictions. The re-opening of Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare (ELC and SAC) services will be guided by this framework and will be underpinned by the Government's Return to Work Safely Protocol, expert advice, available evidence and consultation with ELC and SAC stakeholder representatives and providers themselves. I am conscious that the proposed timelines in the Roadmap are subject to further NPHET advice, and decisions from Government.

My Department is not in a position, at this time, to give a figure for enrolment in ECCE services in September 2020. However, the enrolment figures for the 2019/20 ECCE programme year are an indication of potential numbers. The following table sets out these figures, on a per county basis. Additionally, some ECCE eligible children will be enrolled on other DCYA schemes, but avail of the ECCE programme through those schemes.