The extension to the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme which was announced in Budget 2016 will allow children to access the free pre-school programme from the time they are 3 years of age until they start primary school. The measure will come into effect from September 2016.
The extension to the programme will cost an additional €47m in 2016. The full year additional costs of the extended programme will be in the region of €114m. These estimated costs include the restoration of capitation fees to pre-2012 levels with effect from September 2016 (i.e. €64.50 standard capitation rate and €75 higher capitation rate per child per week).
My response to Parliamentary Question 358 of 24th November 2015 referred to an estimated additional cost of €20m in 2017 arising from the hypothetical increase of the standard and higher capitation rates to €67.50 and €82.50 per child per week respectively.
Currently, around 67,000 children participate in the ECCE programme. It is estimated that the Budget 2016 initiative will increase the number of children benefitting from the programme to over 127,000 in a given year. However, this increase will not happen immediately. It is estimated that the maximum enrolment of 127,000 will not occur until the April 2017 enrolment. The additional cost of increasing the standard capitation rate from €64.50 to €67.50 and the higher capitation rate from €75 to €82.50 was calculated on the basis of the additional numbers of children expected to be enrolled in the programme in January 2017 and in April 2017. It should be noted that the extension to the programme will provide children with additional pre-school weeks, but the maximum number of pre-school weeks in a particular year remains 38.
