Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 4 April 2019
310. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if an overage exemption will be reconsidered in the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15782/19]
View answerEarly Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) overage exemptions were introduced at the onset of the ECCE programme in 2010. At that time ECCE operated for a 38 week period, or one programme year. For some children with special/additional needs, attending preschool five days a week was not feasible and therefore an allowance was made. Their ECCE place was split over two years, e.g. a child may have availed of three days ECCE provision in year one and two days in year two. In order to facilitate this, in the cases where the child would have been overage for ECCE in the latter year, an overage exemption was granted.
Overage Exemptions currently provided by the Department are governed by three guiding principles as follows:
· A Letter of Recommendation supplied from a specialist (NB: Not a GP/Public Health Nurse)
· The child not reaching 6 years of age during the exemption year to comply with the school starting age (as per Educational Welfare Act, 2000)
· ECCE Allocation taken -i.e. if a child has already availed of the full two years they will not be eligible.
In the case of the child named, the application was declined on the basis that their ECCE entitlement will have been utilised in full by the end of June.
It is important to note that this provision of an overage exemption by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) for the ECCE programme was never intended as a mechanism to delay a child’s entry to primary education before the age of 6 years which is the statutory requirement or to address any issue of non-availability of a school place.
It should also be noted that the application process for an exemption from the upper age limit for the ECCE programme was introduced within a context where:
· The ECCE programme was for one year only; and
· The Access and Inclusions Model (AIM) did not exist.
Given the extension of the ECCE programme in 2016/2017, the further extension of the programme to two full years from September 2018, and the introduction of AIM in June 2016, the rationale underpinning the policy intent of the system of overage exemption came under review as the initial premise for the provision of an exemption might have been considered to be no longer valid, i.e. an overage exemption as originally designed allowed for a child to avail of one programme year of ECCE over two years, whereas the standard provision is now a full two programme years.
Therefore, the overage exemption process has recently been the subject of a consultation process and report by the National Disability Authority (NDA). Officials from the Department are now considering policy options following on from the recent publication of this report. The new policy will consider the future of the system of exemptions and how best to support parents and children in the important transition from pre-school to primary school. It is worth stressing that the only rationale underpinning these considerations is what is in the best interests of the child.
The current system will continue until such time as any new policy proposals are in place.
A key finding of the NDA report, which was published recently, is that generally it is in children's best interest to enrol in primary school with their peers and to transition to becoming a teenager with their peers.
The report also seeks to ensure that schools offer all the assistance necessary to meet the child's needs, with the assistance of the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).
My Department will be happy to assist the family, if requested, to make contact with the NCSE to ensure that adequate preparations are in place for the child to start school in September 2019. The family should make immediate contact with their local school to make sure it has appropriate arrangements in place to support this child from September 2019.
