Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party)
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249. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if there are negative implications with regard to State supports for crèche and play school owners that decide not to reopen in January 2021 due to personal concerns related to the Covid-19 pandemic but plan to reopen once they feel it is safe to do so. [3077/21]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Childcare services will continue to receive funding under my Department's funding schemes, including ECCE, NCS, CCSP and TEC, where they close:

- under direction of the Government (all services that deliver the pre-school ECCE programme only have been directed to close);

- by direction of public health authorities;

- with force majeure permission to close because they do not have the children of essential workers or vulnerable children in their services, or the parents of those children do not require childcare; or

- with force majeure permission to close for circumstances outside of their control.

Early learning and care and school age childcare services which chose to close, without direction or force majeure permission, will not receive funding under my Department's funding schemes for the period 11 to 31 January, as they will be in breach of their funding contracts.

All childcare services, whether they are open or closed, can continue to claim all-of-economy State supports, including the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS). The EWSS covers, on average, 80% of the wage bill of a childcare provider.