This article is from page 11 of the 2007-12-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 11 JPG
THE CHAIRMAN of the Clare Childcare Committee believes that the Government may perform a u- turn on contentious proposals that may leave community childcare services worse off.
Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) said yesterday that there was a possibility that the Minister for State at the Department of Health, Brendan Smith, “may see the light of day” in relation to the proposed Community Childcare
Subvention Scheme (CCSS) being introduced from next January.
Cllr Arkins said that if the scheme was introduced in its current form “all the good work of the last six to seven years in this area will be over- aU bw elere
Cllr Arkins confirmed that case studies have been carried out on a number of community-based child- care providers in Clare and it has found “that they will be considerably worse off” under the new funding mechanism.
In the Dail, Minister Smith said “that the new scheme will provide an effective framework for the contin- ued targeting of additional resources towards disadvantaged parents and their children while continuing to Support community childcare serv- CoO EUR YE
‘The scheme has been informed by and takes account of a number of en- hancements recommended by the re- port of the Value for Money Review of the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-06. . .
‘The new scheme has clear advan- tages over its predecessor. There is an increase in the level of funding available under it, and a majority of services will benefit from the chang- es it introduces.”
However, Cllr Arkins said yester- day that the new scheme hadn’t been measured in terms of rural isolation or economies of scale. The Ruan- based councillor said that if the new Scheme was introduced, it would result in greater fees for parents in Clare and would make some com-
munity childcare services in Clare unviable.
Cllr Arkins said that lobbying had already taken place with Minister Smith and Junior Minister, Tony Kil- leen on the issue.
Cllr Arkins believes that the meas- ures were put in place with Dublin- based community childcare provid- ers in mind. He said: “It is an east versus west argument to some extent and Minister Eamon O’Cuiv is now on side and I am confident that the new measures will be overturned.”