207 Deputy Tony Gregory asked the Minister for Health and Children if she will respond to the correspondence from a service (details supplied) in Dublin 1; if she will review whether the level of funding was miscalculated; if she will take steps to ensure that the child-care service is properly funded; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26634/08]

As the Deputy will be aware, I have responsibility for the National Childcare Investment Programme 2006-2010 (NCIP), which will invest €575 million over 5 years.

I understand from enquiries made that a miscalculation occurred when calculating the transitional and subvention funding for 2008 for the Group in question under the Community Childcare Subvention Scheme. Pobal, who manage the day-to-day operation of the childcare programmes, has since clarified that the rate of staffing funding for the Group in 2007 under the EOCP was €175,788. Therefore the Group has been approved an increase to their transitional funding for January to June 2008 to €87,894 with their subvention funding for July to December 2008 subsequently increased to €79,105. The amount of their staffing funding for July to December 2008 represents 90% of their transitional amount as their parent declaration forms did not exceed the floor my predecessor set for the Scheme. The Group has been notified of their amended funding levels. This Group was approved a total of €920,219 in EOCP staffing grant assistance.