28.— (1) The Principal Act is amended by inserting the following after Part 4:

“PART 4A

Early Childcare Supplement

Entitlement to early childcare supplement.

223A.— Subject to this Part, a person who is a qualified person for the purposes of Part 4 shall, so long as he or she remains so qualified, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas a payment (in this Act referred to as ‘early childcare supplement’) in accordance with section 223B in respect of each qualified child (within the meaning of section 219) until such time as the qualified child attains the age of 6 years.

Amount of early childcare supplement.

223B.— (1) Subject to this Act, the maximum amount of early childcare supplement payable under section 223A in respect of each qualified child shall not exceed €1,000 in any year, payable in equal quarterly instalments of €250, and only one such supplement shall be payable in any year in respect of a qualified child.

(2) Regulations which may be made under section 242(1)(a) providing for the time and manner of payment of early childcare supplement shall be subject to the prior consent of the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Health and Children.

(3) Notwithstanding subsection (1), where in any quarter a qualified child attains the age of 6 years, early childcare supplement shall be paid in respect of the quarter in which the child attains that age.

(4) In this Part—

‘quarter’ means a period of 3 months ending on 31 March, 30 June, 30 September or 31 December;

‘quarterly’ shall be read accordingly.”.

(2) This section comes into operation on 1 April 2006.