Minister Frances Fitzgerald announces preparation of Ireland’s first National Early Years Strategy

25th January 2012

The Minister for Children & Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald TD has today announced that during 2012 her Department, in consultation with key stakeholders, will develop Ireland’s first National Early Years Strategy, for children aged 0-6 years.

Minister Fitzgerald stated: “We know that early-intervention in children’s lives and quality early childhood experiences are crucial to a child’s emotional, cognitive and social development. As a society we need to work to promote quality childhoods for Irish children not just for their enjoyment but for the good of families, society and the economy.”

“I have therefore asked my Department to prepare, in collaboration with key experts and stakeholders, Ireland’s first National Early Years Strategy. I want this to be an innovative and exciting blueprint for the future strategic development of Ireland’s Early Years Sector.”

“The Strategy will support Irish families in bringing up their children, identifying the services they want to have access to and the information that will help them to be confident and secure parents and to improve outcomes for their children.”

“But this Strategy will also play a significant part in Ireland’s future economic planning. There is an increasing acceptance and focus internationally on the economic benefits accruing from investment in the early years. Longitudinal studies in the US, England France and New Zealand cite returns to the economy of between three and ten times the original investment. In these studies, children who experience high quality preschool are higher achievers in education and in employment and these benefits also transfer to the next generation.”

“In Ireland’s case, the OECD in its 2011 Economic Survey of Ireland emphasized that in order for Ireland ‘to preserve its strengths in human capital’ we should recognise the importance of pre-school education in having ‘both a positive impact on later educational performance and an equity-enhancing effect.”

The proposed Early Years Strategy will cover all aspects of children’s experiences in their early years including health, family support, care and education and will identify the structures and policies needed to improve early year’s experiences in Ireland.

The Minister announced the Early Years Strategy while addressing an OECD High Level Conference in Oslo on January 24th 2012 which was attended by ministers from around the world as well as by experts from the OECD, academics, senior public servants and representatives from the early childhood care and education sector.

Click on link below to find out more information

http://www.dcya.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=1751

National Childcare Investment Programme (NCIP) Capital Funding 2012

Six million euro capital funding for the National Childcare Investment Programme (NCIP) was announced by the Government in December 2011.

The capital funding 2012 is available to both community and private childcare providers currently participating in one or more of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) funding programmes: 1) Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme; 2) Childcare Education and Training Support (CETS) programme and 3) free Pre-School Year in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. The funding is available for small maintenance/renovation work or equipment and the maximum grant available is €50,000 (inclusive of VAT).

Conditions of Funding

• The application for funding must include documentary evidence to support the application, e.g. HSE report. Pobal may also undertake an on-site visit to verify the rationale for the application. Applicants are expected to co-operate with Pobal with site visits and/or any queries associated with the consideration of an application;
• No retrospective funding for expenditure incurred on works/equipment prior to the date of approval of grant will be considered;
• Only one application is permitted per childcare facility. In cases of service providers with multiple facilities, a maximum of four grant approvals may be permitted per applicant subject to EU competition directives;
• When submitting the application you will be required to submit 3 current written quotes;
• Where the value of the goods and/or works is €10,000 or more (inclusive of VAT), potential suppliers must provide the applicant with either a current general Tax Clearance Certificate or a valid C2 certificate, a copy of this certificate should be retained by the applicant.
• No payment will be made under this programme unless a current Tax Clearance Certificate in the name of the grantee is submitted;
• You will be required to report to Pobal the expenditure of the funding awarded, supported by a bank statement;
• The funding must be fully spent and reported by end October 2012. In relation to this, please be mindful of planning permission timelines, should your capital work require planning permission;
• Receipt of the maximum funding under this programme will require the service to remain in operation for 5 years (pro-rated for the amount of funding awarded). If the same childcare facility has already been funded under Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme (EOCP) or NCIP capital funding and is still within the contractual period for that funding, the service will be required to remain in operation for the duration of that previous contract or the duration of the new (NCIP capital 2012) contract, whichever is the longer period;
• Grantees must record all monies received and spent under the grant, and all accounts and associated documents should be retained by the beneficiary until 31st December 2017. Pobal and the DCYA (officers and agents) shall, at all reasonable times, have access to all activities and records of the grantee as they relate to this grant and in this regard grantees may be subject to an on-site verification visit by Pobal;
• In cases of non-compliance, with any of the terms of this funding programme, the commitment to funding will be withdrawn and recovery of funding paid may result.

In addition, in appraising applications, particular consideration will be given to:

• Applications that are accompanied by a HSE pre-school inspection report, in terms of adherence to the Pre-School Regulations, supporting the need for the proposed works;
• Applications that best demonstrate the need for the proposed works, e.g. in terms of quality improvement to the childcare service;
• Services previously funded under Department of Children & Youth Affairs (DCYA) capital programmes (Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006 and National Childcare Investment Programme 2006-2010);
• Facilities located in / servicing areas of disadvantage (based on the Pobal-Haas Deprivation Index -see Maps.Pobal.ie);
• Services’ previous substantial adherence to contractual obligations under DCYA funded programmes (including capital programmes and current programmes: Free Pre-school Year in Early Childhood Care & Education (ECCE); Community Childcare Subvention (CCS); Childcare Employment & Training Supports (CETS);
• The reasonableness or otherwise of the proposed expenditure in terms of value for money, e.g. the percentage of the total project cost budgeted for professional fees;
• Input from the City/County Childcare Committee (CCC) in terms of its view on local need.

The above considerations will inform the appraisal of applications. In the event that the programme is oversubscribed, these considerations will be used to prioritise applications.

It is expected that the programme will open for applications for two weeks towards the end of February 2012. The applications for funding will be made on-line only from Pobal’s website during those two designated weeks. The weeks will be confirmed nearer to the date.

In the meantime, if you feel you may wish to make an application for funding, please be prepared and have all the documentation that you will need to include with your application to hand. Please check this notice regularly for updates and also keep in touch with your local County/City Childcare Committee to help with this process and keep you informed of developments.

Follow the link below for more details from Pobal

https://www.pobal.ie/Funding%20Programmes/Early%20Education%20and%20Childcare/Funding/Pages/NCIP-Capital---2012.aspx