Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 October 2018
305. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the estimated cost of increasing the number of programme weeks in the early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme by one week to 14 weeks, respectively, in tabular form. [43135/18]
View answerThe Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme provides for a programme of early learning for children before commencing primary school.
The ECCE Programme currently runs for 38 weeks per calendar year, with eligible children entitled to a maximum of 61 weeks in the years before they begin primary school education.
The table shows the cost of increasing the number of weeks available to children in 2019, based on estimated registration figures:
Increase in ECCE Programme Weeks (€m)
|
Additional |
Number of Weeks |
Total Cost |
Increase |
|
0 |
38 |
298.6 |
0 |
|
1 |
39 |
306.5 |
7.9 |
|
2 |
40 |
314.3 |
15.7 |
|
3 |
41 |
322.2 |
23.6 |
|
4 |
42 |
330 |
31.4 |
|
5 |
43 |
337.9 |
39.3 |
|
6 |
44 |
345.8 |
47.2 |
|
7 |
45 |
353.7 |
55.1 |
|
8 |
46 |
361.6 |
63 |
|
9 |
47 |
369.5 |
70.9 |
|
10 |
48 |
377.3 |
78.7 |
|
11 |
49 |
385.2 |
86.6 |
|
12 |
50 |
393.1 |
94.5 |
|
13 |
51 |
400.9 |
102.3 |
|
14 |
52 |
408.6 |
110 |
