Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 June 2024
41. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will outline the response to his call for capital support for new childcare places; and his plans for the longer-term expansion of the sector. [26054/24]
View answerCapital funding through the Building Blocks Capacity Grant Scheme consists of two strands of funding over 2024 and 2025.
The deadline for the first strand, the Building Blocks Expansion Scheme, has now closed. Under this strand, capital funding for projects valued at between €50,000 and €100,000 is being provided for the renovation or reconfiguration of existing services to deliver additional capacity, particularly for children aged under 3. I hope to announce the list of successful applicants shortly.
I also intend to announce details of the significantly larger Building Blocks Extension Grant Scheme in the coming weeks. Under this strand, grants ranging from €100,000 to €650,000 will be made available to early learning and childcare providers to physically extend their services to deliver additional capacity, again with a focus on places children aged under 3.
In addition to the Building Blocks Capacity Grant Scheme, the new Supply Management Unit in my Department is leading on other actions this year to ensure the supply of early learning and childcare is aligned with demand, including through the updating of planning guidelines for early learning and childcare, in partnership with the Department of Housing.
The work of this Unit will be informed by a planning function for monitoring, analysing and forecasting of the supply and demand which is under development and akin to the Forward Planning Unit in the Department of Education.
The work of this Unit is also being complemented by enhancements to the Core Funding Scheme, through which funding will be allocated to support capacity growth for the third year consecutive year of the scheme, with a 5.6% increase in capacity projected from September.
The Department of Education published procedures on the use of school properties and sports facilities outside of school hours to highlight the value of school infrastructure being used to deliver early learning and childcare and school age childcare services. These procedures outline steps necessary to consider school facilities for other activities beyond their core function and to maximise their use for local communities. It is positive to see the Department of Education encourage this type of use of school buildings, particularly for early learning and childcare and school age childcare services, and to provide support to schools to make these spaces available. Currently 15% of early learning and care and school age childcare services are delivered on school premises and I hope that this can be further developed.
