Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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196. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if the return of children with additional needs to crèches is a priority for his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7616/21]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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On 26 January, Government made the decision to extend the suspension of the ECCE programme and to continue to restrict access to other early learning and care (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC) services to the children of essential workers and to vulnerable children.

The decision to postpone resumption of the ECCE programme and to restrict access to ELC/SAC services only to children of essential workers and vulnerable children has been taken in order to minimise the movement of people at a time of elevated levels of infection of Covid-19 in the community, whilst at the same time providing a service for those who most need it.

It is currently planned for these arrangements to be in place until 5 March. This timeframe remains subject to review in the context of the evolving public health circumstances.

During this period of extended restrictions, my Department has committed to continuing to provide AIM (Access and Inclusion Model) funding to ELC services. In addition my Department has asked that services in receipt of AIM funding reach out to children who were benefiting from targeted AIM supports and who are currently at home.

To help parents and ELC services to support children of pre-school age who are at home at this time, my Department recently launched a Pre-School at Home Hub which provides a range of activities for all abilities to support and encourage children’s interests and to keep children playing and learning at home. The Hub includes specific activities for children with additional needs. More information on this resource can be found at .

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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197. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he has engaged with childcare providers on extending their opening hours to ease the burden on front-line workers and parents working from home; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7617/21]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Government decided on 6 January that, in order to reduce movement in the population, the ECCE programme would not resume until 1 February. It has now been agreed that the programme will remain suspended during extended restrictions up to 5 March. Other Early Learning and Childcare and School-Age Childcare services (ELC/SAC services) can remain open on a restricted basis, to offer services to the children of essential workers and to vulnerable children only.

Childminders can also continue to provide services to children of essential workers and vulnerable children at this time. A further option is for a household of an essential worker to form a bubble with another household for the purpose of providing childcare.

Essential workers are those that work in the list of essential services published on gov.ie. One parent who is an essential worker confers eligibility on the child to access a service. For the purposes of accessing ELC/SAC, an essential worker may be working from home.

ELC/SAC services are provided by private enterprises, either privately owned or operated by community organisations. While service providers are contracted by the Department to provide services at a subsidised rate to parents, they are free to set their own policies regarding their opening hours and other matters.

I have asked ELC/SAC providers to ensure that a place is available for all children of essential workers within their service. I am aware that providers are making significant efforts to accommodate the children of essential workers and vulnerable children at this time and I welcome this.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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198. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if parents who can avail of the ECCE scheme but choose to use the national childcare scheme will be allocated the same number of hours under the NCS as they would under the ECCE scheme in order to support parents through the Covid-19 restrictions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7618/21]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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As the Deputy will be aware with the resumption of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme is being postponed until 5 March 2021, services that provide the ECCE Programme only are to remain closed during this period. Other types of ELC/SAC services, including services that provide full day care, part-time day care, stand-alone school-age childcare services and childminders can continue to operate to provide ELC/SAC to:

- children who have a parent who works in an essential service; and/or

- Vulnerable children

Arising from this from 1 February until 5 March there are different approaches to funding services depending on whether they are open or closed. There are also two streams of funding available: standard and enhanced payments.

The standard and enhanced payments reflect the need for DCEDIY to make certain adjustments to ensure the equitable distribution of funding to best support the sector. Such decisions are made with consideration to the totality of funding made available to the sector by the State.

Standard payments from DCEDIY include:

- Continued payment for registered children of 100% of NCS, CCSP and TEC

- 100% payment for AIM

- Continued payment of 70% of the value of current ECCE registrations

Enhanced payments from DCEDIY, subject to agree to certain terms and conditions, include:

- Payment of 30% of the value of current ECCE registrations

- A Covid-19 Operating Support Payment (COSP) for services that may have a high degree of reliance on parental fees

- Access to Covid-19 Sustainability funding where a requirement is established.

ELC/SAC services continue to be entitled to access the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) and all are encouraged to do so.

The NCS is available for families of ECCE-age children on a “wrap-around” basis in term time. During term time, a child’s NCS award will be exclusive of the time they spend in ECCE as this is already funded by the Department. Outside of term time, a child’s full NCS hours can be utilised. As the ECCE funding is being continued as described above providers do not need to change their NCS registrations to account for ECCE hours.

This wrap-around occurs regardless of whether the family chooses to utilise their access to ECCE. As such the situation the Deputy describes cannot arise under current arrangements.