Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Last month, I was pleased to announce an €18 million capital grant scheme for the Early Learning and Childcare Sector. The Building Blocks Capacity Expansion Grant Scheme is part of the wider Building Blocks Capital Programme for this sector under the National Development Plan.

The primary focus of the Scheme is to increase capacity in the 1-3 year old, pre-ECCE, age range for full day or part-time care. It will provide for an immediate increase in affordable early learning and childcare places in 2024, and will be specifically targeted in areas in where they are needed most

The Scheme will provide capital grants to fund projects of between €50,000 and €100,000 for Early Learning and Childcare services to expand their capacity by means of small scale internal renovations and reconfigurations. The grant will be open to both private and community-based services, under the following conditions:• Community Providers can apply for funding between €50,000 and €100,000• Private Providers can apply for funding between €25,000 and €50,000.

Match funding will be required for privately owned services, with a maximum contribution by the Department of 50% of total project costs. Match funding will not be required of community-led services.

The rationale for seeking 50% match funding from private providers is a balancing of consideration of the limitations on providers being in a position to fully fund expansion with the fact that the delivery of new places will confer additional scope for income for private providers. Many previous capital schemes were available only to community providers with others open to private providers with a match funding requirement. Following that precedent, this scheme is open to private providers on a match-funding basis.

The Expansion Grant Scheme will be the first of two significant capital investment schemes, to be delivered in 2024 and 2025.

A larger-scale Extension Grant scheme is currently being designed by my Department, funding will be made available to providers next year to commence larger-scale expansion projects, most likely in the region of €100,000 to €500,000.

I want to ensure that the two schemes are distinct, as service providers will not be allowed to apply for grants under both schemes. For this reason, projects under the Expansion Grant Scheme are capped at €100,000. Services seeking to deliver larger-scale projects will be eligible to apply under the Expansion Grant, once it is announced.