Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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1035. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the status of her discussions with childcare providers to ensure sufficient supports are in place to allow them to open in the coming weeks; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9523/20]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The Deputy is aware that the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented situation that has required a series of emergency responses from the Government and my Department.

My Department and I are engaging extensively with stakeholders in the Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age (SAC) sector.

Consultation with stakeholders has always been central to the work of my Department, and the Early Years Forum (EY Forum) is a key part of this.  The EY Forum meets several times a year and includes representatives of providers, parents and academics with an interest in the ELC and SAC sector.  I established the ‘EY Forum Plus’ in March 2020 to widen representation by the sector, to aid my Department in developing a response to Covid-19.  This group has met on a number of occasions over the past three months.

I recently established an Advisory Group and a Reference Group on the phased re-opening of ELC and SAC services on 29 June 2020. The Advisory Group had its first meeting on 13 May and has met 4 times since. A separate Reference Group representing other stakeholders had its first meeting on 28 May.

With regard to supports that are currently available to ELC and SAC providers to allow them to open in line with the Government’s Roadmap for the Reopening of Society and Business, I was delighted to note, in a report to Government last week, the HPSC Guidance for settings providing childcare during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an extremely valuable resource for all childcare providers and indeed for parents making decisions about returning their children to childcare. I am very grateful to the HSE and HPSC for their time and expertise in developing this resource and for their collaboration with my officials.

In terms of financial supports that will be available, the Programme Support Payment (PSP) for the 2019/20 programme year will issue in June. This payment totals €13m (an additional €6m was already issued in April) and acknowledges the administrative workload on providers delivering my Department’s subsidy payments to almost 200,000 children every year.

The Deputy will be aware that the Capital Programme for 2020 was suspended in March, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I now plan to launch a revised capital programme in June that will seek to support services with COVID related challenges.  Under this new capital grant programme, funds will be made available to services to enable them to carry out preparatory work in advance of opening.  The application process, which will be administered by Pobal, will go live in the coming days. The application process will be user-friendly and simple to use.  Providers will receive confirmation of the funding they are to receive before they reopen.

 I am continuing to work with my officials, members of the Advisory Group and colleagues across Government on a range of other supports and I will be happy to update the Deputy  further when these are more advanced.