Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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953. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will provide an update on the regionalisation of community childcare offices. [63499/22]

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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954. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he has considered the advantageous location of the Westmeath community childcare office in Mullingar in terms of size, location and accessibility for a regional office service. [63500/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 953 and 954 together.

On 29th March 2022 Government accepted the findings of the independent Review of the Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare (SAC) Operating Model in Ireland that a dedicated state agency is the optimal operating model for the early learning and childcare sector for the years ahead. This Review undertook a comprehensive analysis of the existing operating model, which included, amongst other organisations, the 30 City and County Childcare Committees (CCCs).  It is envisaged that this state agency will undertake the functions currently carried out by Pobal Early Years (including Better Start), the CCCs, as well as operational functions currently undertaken by my Department. 

A dedicated state agency will assist in the development of a more streamlined structure to better support the delivery of ELC and SAC, and will facilitate my Department in implementing and progressing the significant reform agenda envisaged under First 5, the Whole of Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families.

Significant progress has been made in advancing this ambitious and transformative reform programme.  My Department has commenced a comprehensive phase of analysis, planning, consultation, and engagement with sectoral stakeholders to determine how the recommendation arising from the Review can best be implemented.  This phase will include a detailed design of a new agency, which will include determining the appropriate national, local and regional structures and locations for the agency.  It will also involve an examination of all legal requirements, transition and continuity planning, risk management, and a comprehensive evidence-based cost projection for the establishment and annual running costs of a new state agency. My Department is committed to ongoing consultation with all stakeholders, including CCCs, throughout the design process to ensure that the strengths of the existing model are maintained and that the appropriate balance between national, regional and local structures is established in the reformed model.  The specific details and locations of any potential regional presence for the new agency will only be determined following detailed analysis and consultation during the design and planning phase.

This work will culminate in a full agency design and implementation plan which will be presented to Government for approval.

The implementation of this reform programme will likely require considerable lead-in time and the full establishment of the new Agency will take several years to complete.  A detailed timeline for the design and implementation of this complex project, which will involve multiple strands of interdependent work streams, is currently being developed as part of the design and implementation planning phase currently underway.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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955. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the funding that has been applied for or is being considered in relation to the Grange building childcare facility in Mullingar, County Westmeath. [63501/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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My Department does not share details of funding applications received from individual services or those under consideration.

Early learning and childcare providers can access funding though my Department’s funding model, Together for Better, which brings together three major programmes: the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, including the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM); the National Childcare Scheme (NCS); and the new Core Funding scheme.

In addition, I successfully secured approximately €70m in the revised National Development Plan (NDP) allocation for the Building Blocks Capital Programme designed to meet current and long-term early learning and childcare infrastructure needs.

The Building Blocks Capital Programme includes three strands:

- €9m Building Blocks - Improvement Grant

- €45m Building Blocks - Capacity Grant

- €15m Building Blocks - Innovation Grant

Applications for the Building Blocks - Improvement Grant (relating to green energy and retrofitting), closed on 16 December.

Early learning and childcare services are also eligible to apply for the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS). Under TBESS, businesses engaged in school-age childcare who have suffered an increase of at least 50% in the average unit price of electricity and/or natural gas for the relevant billing period in 2022, as compared with the average unit price for electricity and/or gas for the corresponding reference period in 2021, will be eligible under the scheme.