Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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443. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if the build blocks funding programme that his Department administers can provide for extensions to existing childcare buildings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56647/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The availability of high-quality early learning and childcare that is affordable and accessible is a key Government priority. Since 2015, significant increases in State investment in early learning and childcare has given rise to a substantial growth in the numbers of children participating in these services.

During 2021, my Department successfully secured €70m in the revised National Development Plan allocation. This will enable significant capital investment in early learning and childcare across three pillars: Building Blocks - Improvement Grant, Building Blocks - New Capacity Grant and Building Blocks - First 5 Initiatives Grant.

My Department has allocated €9m for The Building Blocks - Improvement Grant for Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Age Childcare (SAC) facilities.

The purpose of the Building Blocks – Improvement Grant is to improve the energy efficiency standards across the sector, supporting the Government’s ambitions as laid out in the National Development Plan 2018-2027 and the Programme for Government, while also supporting the continuous improvement of the physical environment of existing Early Learning and Childcare infrastructure. The programme is split between two strands - Strand A (Green Energy) and Strand B (Retrofit) and grants ranging between €35,000 and €75,000 will be awarded. Details of eligible and ineligible expenditure is provided in the Building Blocks - Improvement Grant Application Guidelines.

While the Building Blocks - Improvement Grant does not provide funding for extensions, it is part of a wider Building Blocks Capital Programme designed to meet current and long-term Early Learning and Childcare infrastructure needs. The Building Blocks - Capacity Grant will be announced in the coming months by my Department which will address the capacity gap, providing investment of up to €45m in the expansion of existing facilities and development of new provisions.