Early Learning and Care and School Age Capital Programmes

Early Learning and Care and School Age Capital Programmes

Pobal is pleased to announce that the 2021 Capital application process is now open following the recent funding announcement from the Department of Children Equality Diversity Integration and Youth (DCEDIY).

The application process opens Friday  January 29^th and the closing date has been extended by one week to  6pm  Friday 26th  February  2021.  Applications cannot be accepted outside of this window.

All applications must be submitted through the Early Years Hive portal.

A total of €8.3 million in funding has been made available under this grant to support childcare services to become compliant with Fire Safety Regulations and Standards.

Applications can be made for amounts  between €1000 and €10,000 to contribute towards the costs of works or the purchase of equipment required by a service to receive a Fire Safety Certificate. This certificate is a mandatory requirement of the statutory regulation process undertaken by Tusla, the independent regulator of the sector.

To be eligible for funding, works must be identified as being required in a fire safety assessment report which has been completed since June 2019 by a competent person. The fire safety assessment must be provided with the application for funding.

The eligible competent persons are defined as follows:

• A Registered Architect
• A Building surveyor
• An Engineer.

If you do not have a Fire Safety Certificate and intend to apply for a grant under the 2021 Capital Programme, please ensure that you have obtained a fire safety assessment before the closing date of the application window or your application will not be eligible.

The fire safety assessment may be dated at any time after 1 June 2019 – although, if material works have been carried out in your service since the fire safety assessment was obtained, you will have to provide an updated assessment.

Pobal has been asked to highlight the following information for applicants:

1. You do not need a Fire Cert before you can get a Fire Safety Assessment; this grant is designed to support services to get a Fire Cert.
2. Please ensure your Fire Safety Assessment is dated, Pobal will check the date to confirm the Fire Safety Assessment falls within the allowed time frames.

For further information on the programme rules and how to apply for this grant please read Capital 2021 Applicant Guidelines the and Capital 2021 Technical Guidelines in the resources section below.

You can view  more  helpful  information here.

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Resources