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Early Childhood Care Education

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 December 2015

Thursday, 17 December 2015

Questions (391)

Ciaran Lynch

Question:

391. Deputy Ciarán Lynch asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if children are being treated unfairly in regard to the early childhood care and education scheme based on date of birth (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46020/15]

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Written answers

Currently, children are entitled to one year’s free pre-school (i.e. 38 weeks during the academic year) under the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. For the 2015-16 programme year, children who were born between 2 February 2011 and 30 June 2012 were eligible.

In Budget 2016 it was announced that, from September 2016, children will be eligible to start free pre-school when they turn age 3, and can continue in free pre-school until they start primary school (once the child is not older than 5½ years at the end of the relevant pre-school year i.e. end June). As part of the reform of free pre-school, children will be able to enrol in free pre-school at three different points in the year - September, January and April - so that they can access free pre-school as soon as possible after they reach age 3.

This budgetary measure implements a key recommendation of the Expert Advisory Group on the Early Years Strategy, which recommended that a free part-time place in early childhood care and education be available from every child’s third birthday, until they enter primary school. The Expert Group recognised that this would mean that the period of time a child would spend in free pre-school would vary depending on both the child’s birth date and the age at which they start primary school. The decision to allow children to register for free pre-school at three different points in the year was designed to ensure that children could access the benefits of pre-school as soon as they were old enough.

In addition, an upper age limit for participation in free pre-school was set by the Inter-Departmental Group on Future Investment on the advice of the Department of Education and Skills. Limiting the diversity in age ranges in primary school is considered to be generally in the best interest of children, in relation to peer interaction in junior infants, as well as other educational considerations. This does mean that different children will spend different lengths of time in free pre-school, but our focus throughout in considering these issues was how to achieve the best outcomes for children.

In relation to the particular case raised by the Deputy, the child in question was born in January 2014. She will be eligible to enrol for the free pre-school in April 2017 and can continue in the programme until June 2019, a total of 88 weeks. If her parents decide to send her to primary school in September 2018 then she will avail of 50 weeks free pre-school.

Childcare providers will not be required to hold places open in expectation of enrolments in January and April. I am clear that more capacity will be required and that January and April enrolments may pose a challenge. Officials in my Department are committed to assisting with these challenges. They are already working closely with the City and County Childcare Committees and the Voluntary Childcare Organisations on a range of measures which will assist pre-school providers meet increased demand for free pre-school provision, particularly from January and April 2017. Further information on these measures will be available shortly.

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