Early Years Capital 2017
The Financial returns for Early Years Capital 2017 Strand 1, 2 & 3 and School Age Childcare 2017 Strand A, B & C, will be available for completion on the Portal from Friday the 20th of October 2017.
All returns should be completed and submitted by Thursday the 30th November 2017. If you have any queries please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Department of Children & Youth Affairs (DCYA) has re-opened the Learner Fund Bursary (announced early 2017) to Early Years practitioners who have completed a major award in Early Childhood Care and Education at Level 7, Level 8, or Level 9 qualification on the National Framework of Qualifications since the inception of the Learner Fund (2013).
This qualification must be on the DCYA Early Years Recognised Qualifications list.
The bursary amount will be €750. Applications opened on 16th October and will remain open until 7th November 2017 at 5pm. Offaly CCC has emailed applications to all services in the county on 17th of October (delay due to the storm).
Application forms and criteria for the bursary is available to download here
The Department of Children and Youth Affairs are asking members of the public to complete a survey which will inform the Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures Mid-Term Review. This survey seeks to review and analyse awareness and visibility, engagement, the implementation process and infrastructure, the strengths and weaknesses of the Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures Policy Framework and it will inform the course of action for phase 2 of implementation.
The survey will take approximately 10/15 minutes to complete.
The survey must be completed by 3rd November 2017.
Please follow the link below to complete the survey:
Your input and opinion would be greatly appreciated in completing this survey.
Eir have repaired the phone lines and we now able to take calls on the landline - 057 9135878. We would like to thank everyone for their patience.
Following Ophelia, the phone lines are down in Offaly County Childcare Committee offices. If you need to reach us please contact any of the staff mobiles or the office mobile on 085 8830042
Childcare Subsidies - are you getting what you are eligible for?
Offaly County Childcare Committee will host FREE information clinics to inform parents of the extra supports that may be available to their family under the More Affordable Childcare Scheme.
Please contact us on 057 9135878 to book into a clinic which will be private and confidential.
Clinics will take place as follows between 10am and 1pm in all areas:
Offaly CCC will be distributing information in the following locations:
Katherine Zappone TD, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs has announced extra funding of €73m for children, youth services and families, bringing the total investment by her Department to €1.38 billion for 2018.
The Minister said: I am very pleased that we have delivered as promised on the commitment to continue investing in our children and young people. Today’s €73m package secures much- needed additional resources for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency and provides a full second year of the ECCE free pre-school scheme, with a heavy emphasis on quality. It also recognises the importance of improved conditions for our early years workforce.
Click HERE to read the Minister's statement in full.
Highlights for Budget 2018
ECCE (Free Preschool Year)
From September 2018, the ECCE scheme will be made available to all children over the age of 2 years and 8 months for two full programme years. From September 2018 there will only be one entry point in September of each year, the upper age limit on finishing ECCE will remain at 5 years and 6 months.
From September 2018 the capitation rates will increase by 7%
Other Early Years Developments:
Programme Support Payments: previously know as non-contact time payments, to assist with non-contact costs associated with the schemes are now fully secured and will available in 2018 and thereafter.
Sustainability Efforts: An Additonal €500,000, in addition to the €1 million secured in Budget 2017, will be made available to support providers whose viability is under threat.
Capital: An additonal €1 million for capital expenditure for early years and school aged childcare has been added to the €7.5 million baseline capital funding
Inspection: An addtional €1 million for investment inspection and registration in Tusla and Deparment of Education and Skills to assure the quality of early years services.
The Department of Children & Youth Affairs (DCYA) will re-open the Learner Fund Bursary (announced early 2017) to Early Years practitioners who have completed a major award in Early Childhood Care and Education at Level 7, Level 8, or Level 9 qualification on the National Framework of Qualifications since the inception of the Learner Fund (2013).
This qualification must be on the DCYA Early Years Recognised Qualifications list. The bursary amount will be €750. Applications will open on 16th October and remain open until 7th November 2017 at 5pm. If you have not graduated before 7th November, you cannot apply in this round, however another round of the bursary will be opened in the new year to facilitate late graduations.
Offaly CCC will email applications to all services in the county on 16th of October. Application forms and criteria for the bursary will be available on the CCC website from this date.
Date announced by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs for the commencement of all remaining provisions of the Children First Act 2015
Statement by Dr. Katherine Zappone TD, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs
Monday 2nd October 2017
Minister Katherine Zappone T.D., Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, today announced that following almost two years of preparations all remaining provisions of the Children First Act 2015 will be commenced on 11th December 2017.
These include the provisions in relation to mandatory reporting of child abuse and in relation to placing a legal obligation on organisations providing services to children to prepare and publish a Child Safeguarding Statement.
Minister Zappone was speaking at the launch of Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children [2017] which revises and replaces the 2011 edition of the Children First Guidance.
The Minister stated: “By announcing a date of full commencement of all remaining provisions of the Children First Act 2015 on 11th December, I am fulfilling a longstanding Government commitment in relation to mandatory reporting of child abuse.” She added: “While I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge for individuals and organisations to comply with their responsibilities under the Children First Act, I believe our children deserve no less. The comprehensive range of resources being launched today, are intended to help them in their preparations to discharge these responsibilities”.
The Minister acknowledged and commended all those who work so hard to make sure that every child they interact with is cared for, supported and protected. She said “Practitioners in the professional and voluntary sectors, medical professionals, Gardai, youth workers, teachers, and coaches all over Ireland have already adopted and applied best practice in child protection. These people already implement Children First in full and understand their duty to keep children safe.”
“We must continually do our utmost to protect children and young people from harm and assist them in achieving their full potential and I want to encourage and support people who work with children to continue to do so. I hope that families, communities and those who work with children will find the revised Children First Guidance a practical and supportive reference resource, together with the resource documents now being made available by Tusla”.
To read the article in full please click HERE
PIP Announcement - AIM Level 1 – Inclusion Co-ordinator – Increased ECCE Capitation
Please find attached Frequently Asked Questions a document in relation to the increased ECCE capitation, funded by DCYA, in recognition of the leadership and mentoring role that will be delivered by the Inclusion Co-ordinator in the ECCE rooms of their ECCE setting.
Any queries in relation to the attached document should be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.