Minister announces total of €6.87m in Capital funding to be awarded to providers of Early Years and School Age Childcare this summer
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From: Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
- Published on: 1 June 2018
- Last updated on: 26 August 2019
The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr. Katherine Zappone TD, today announced a total of €6.87m in Capital funding to be awarded to providers of Early Years and School Age Childcare this summer.
The €6.87m will contribute towards the creation of new childcare places, natural outdoor play areas and the essential maintenance and repair of services nationwide.
The approved Early Years and School Age Capital funding for 2018 will be made available to childcare centres, crèches and other childcare facilities across five strands, as follows:
Strand 1 (Early Years): New places
- €3.86m total budget (€50k max. grant)
- 85 applications approved for funding
- 1,950 new places to be created: 697 0-3 places, 1,253 ECCE places
Strand 2 (Early Years): Essential maintenance & repair (community only)
- €1m total budget (€20k max. grant)
- 57 applications approved for funding
Strand 3 (Early Years): Natural outdoor play area (0-50 capacity services only)
- €1m total budget (€7k max. grant)
- 157 applications approved for funding
Strand 4 (School Age): New places
- €0.76m total budget
- 45 applications approved for funding
- 807 new places to be created
Strand 5 (School Age): Essential maintenance and repair
- €0.25m total budget
- 54 applications approved for funding
The capital funding has been awarded following the completion of a very competitive application and appraisal process.
Pobal will now begin the process of notifying all applicants of these decisions.
The Minister said:
“I am delighted to announce the €6.87m which will create over 2,000 new childcare places across the country. There was an unprecedented amount of applications this year which shows the appetite for expansion within the sector. I will continue to seek increased investment in this area in order to increase capacity and deliver the highest quality of childcare for families in Ireland.”
ENDS
