VEC childcare budget cuts criticised

The Labour Party president, Mr Michael D. Higgins, has called on the Minister for Education to end cuts imposed on vocational education committees' childcare budgets.

Mr Higgins, who is Labour TD for Galway West, made his call as several dozen parents protested in Galway city yesterday over the axeing of the Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS).

New applicants for the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) for mature students also face losing rent allowances over delays in handling their claims.

Such cuts flew in the face of the Minister's oft-stated desire to help parents return to education, Mr Higgins said.

Participants in the VTOS initiative had been entitled to €63 weekly to pay for childcare in registered creches. Earlier this month a group of parents in Finglas, Dublin, protested after they were told that the grant was no longer available.

The decision to cut the funding, due to budgetary restraints on vocational education committees, could affect up to a quarter of some 5,000 adults participating in VTOS courses run by the 32 VECs.

Two-thirds of the VTOS participants are women, mainly studying for their Junior and Leaving Certificates, and some 1,338 students had been receiving the childcare allowance.

Ms Mags Mannion, one of the participants in yesterday's demonstration in Galway, is a mother of three children and is starting the second year of a media studies course under VTOS.

"We were given no prior notice of this cut, and many of us started courses last year on the understanding that we would receive this funding assistance towards childcare. We've all taken our courses very seriously and we have a great attendance record," she said.

"These initiatives give us the opportunity to get out of the social welfare system," Ms Mannion said. "The fallout from this is that childcare services, creche workers and my own children's educational prospects could be affected if the support isn't there."

The Department of Education and Science said the financial provision for childcare this year was the same as that made initially in 2002, and it was committed to supporting such schemes within the financial resources available.

The Department said VECs determined the level of provision and had discretion to bridge the gap between the Department's grant and the actual costs they approved.

In a separate development, some 18 prospective participants in the Galway Youth Federation's Young Mothers in Education project have been told there is a four-month delay in handling their applications for the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) administered by the Department of Social and Family Affairs.

The applicants have been given 21 days by the Western Health Board to produce their BTEA approvals. The Department of Social and Family Affairs said it was investigating the situation.