Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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928. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her Department will operate a helpline for providers in advance of and during the reopening of crèches and early learning facilities. [11626/20]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The Deputy is aware that the COVID-19 Pandemic has created major challenges for Ireland. The sudden closure of centre-based Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Age Childcare (SAC) services on 12th March was an unexpected but necessary move to safeguard public health in Ireland.

My Department has been working through the significant challenges of a phased reopening of Early Learning and Care (ELC) facilities for 29 June, in line with the Government’s Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business.

We have also been focused on supporting service providers to reopen. I was pleased to announce a €75m comprehensive support package for the sector on 10 June to this effect, and a set of FAQs issued to providers on 12 June in relation to these supports. Providers have also received a suite of materials providing guidance on hygiene practices and general operation once they reopen.

Since the closure of all Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Age Childcare (SAC) settings on 12 March, Pobal’s Early Years Provider Centre has continued to provide a range of supports to service providers; including through email and the online HIVE platform. The HIVE platform is the dedicated early years programme portal for service providers. It is a user-friendly platform through which Pobal and service providers interact.

The Early Years Provider Centre paused their call channel in early April to focus their service to providers through email and the HIVE. The projected timeline is that the call channel will reopen by the beginning of July.

Service providers can continue to contact Pobal’s Early Years Provider Centre; through email () and the online HIVE for any assistance.

In addition, providers can access support and guidance from their local County Childcare Committee, contacts details for which are available myccc.ie 

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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929. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her plans to implement an inspection process in advance of the reopening of crèches and early learning facilities for the purpose of advising providers on the implementation of departmental guidance on reopening. [11627/20]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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As the matter to which the Deputy refers is an operational matter for Tusla, I have requested Tusla to respond to the Deputy directly within 10 working days.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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930. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will provide the maximum number of children and staff per pod in crèches and early learning facilities on reopening; and if her Department will provide guidance to providers on this matter. [11628/20]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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On Friday 5 June, I launched a range of online resources and guidance to support service providers, practitioners and parents to prepare for the reopening of Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare settings, including childminders. The Guidance for Reopening webpage is . The Guidance for Reopening webpage includes health guidance (published by the HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre), regulatory guidance and practice supports.

The public health advice from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) is that while there is no evidence base on which to define a maximum play-pod size, play-pods should be kept as small as is likely to be reasonably practical in the specific childcare context.

The maximum adult-child ratios required by the Early Years Services Regulations, 2016 will remain unchanged and so services must continue to operate within them. In most cases there should be either one or two adults in a ‘play-pod’ in order to keep play-pod sizes small. Therefore, play-pod size will be limited by those ratios. For example, a play-pod that involves 3-6 year olds in full day care may have a maximum size of either nine (one adult and eight children) or 18 (two adults and 16 children). For children under 1 in full day care the maximum play-pod size can be either four (one adult and three children) or eight (two adults and six children). For 1-2 year olds maximum play-pod sizes may be six (one adult and five children) or 12 (two adults and ten children).

While in the majority of cases there will be no more than two adults in a play-pod, there may be some scenarios where a third adult will be required e.g. where an individual is employed to support a child with additional needs or where Tusla, as regulator, has suggested that an additional staff member is required to help with a group where there is challenging behaviour. In those instances, the additional adult would not result in any additional children in the play-pod.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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931. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if additional funding will be provided to crèches and early learning facilities to fund the additional staff necessary to satisfy the reopening guidance. [11629/20]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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On 10 June 2020, I announced a major funding package to facilitate the reopening of early learning and care (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC) services. In accordance with the Government Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business, and guided by the expert advice of the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HSPC), ELC and SAC services can resume from 29 June. I am pleased that Government have committed a €75m package of funding for reopening services over the summer months. This substantial investment recognises the important role that the ELC and SAC sector plays in the societal and economic infrastructure of the country. 

The new funding package contains four significant elements:

- A once-off reopening support payment for DCYA-funded providers opening between 29 June and early September.

- A once-off COVID-19 capital grant for DCYA-funded providers opening between 29 June and early September.

- Continued access for eligible providers to the Revenue-operated Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS)

- Resumption of DCYA ELC and SAC programmes. NCS, CCSP and TEC will be available again for children attending ELC and SAC services from 29 June.

In developing the funding package, I recognise that a reduced number of children are likely to attend ELC and SAC services in the initial weeks of reopening. This funding package is tailored to allow providers to operate with potentially less parental income and to assist in meeting the possible costs associated with complying with public health requirements, including additional staffing costs.

Expert guidance on the safe reopening of ELC and SAC services during the COVID-19 pandemic was published by the HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) on 29 May.  The guidance recommends use of a “play pod” model which restricts interactions between closed groups of children and adults as an alternative to social distancing, on the basis that social distancing is not possible between young children. Based on advice provided by the HPSC, I do not propose to changes to Regulations in relation to either the adult-child ratios or the floor-space requirements for ELC or SAC services as such changes are unnecessary where "play pods" are in use. 

The funding package will also ensure that ELC and SAC providers will not charge higher fees than they did pre-COVID-19. This will benefit parents and children returning to services.

A detailed set of FAQs was published on 12 June to ensure that providers are fully informed of the new funding package. Further information will be provided in the coming weeks. My officials will ensure that the application process will be as straightforward as possible.

A key policy priority for my Department is the sustainability of the ELC and SAC sector and hence it has and continues to work intensively to support services to re-open after COVID-19. The reopening funding aims to support providers to reopen, staff to remain in the sector, parents to resume work, and children to benefit from quality ELC and SAC.