Early Childhood Care and Education Data

Tuesday, 21 May 2019

Questions (603)

Anne Rabbitte

Question:

603. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of applications made under the access and inclusion model, AIM, in each county since 2015, by AIM level and year, in tabular form. [21548/19]

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Written answers

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs

The Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) is a programme of supports designed to enable children with a disability to access and meaningfully participate in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. It was introduced in June 2016 and is administered by Pobal on behalf of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. AIM is a child-centred model, involving 7 levels of progressive support, moving from the universal to the targeted, based on the needs of the child in the context of the pre-school setting they are attending.

AIM Level 1 includes the new higher education programme in Leadership for Inclusion in the Early Years (LINC), established in 2016 with the first intake of students graduating in October 2017. Pre-school settings employing an Inclusion Coordinator (who has graduated from LINC and has agreed to take on the role of Inclusion Coordinator (INCO) in the pre-school setting) can apply for an increase of €2 per child per week in the rate of ECCE capitation payable to that setting. Applications for this increased rate of ECCE capitation were accepted from 2017.

AIM Level 2 provides information for parents and pre-school providers. A dedicated website has been launched under this level - www.aim.gov.ie - and an AIM Communications Strategy is also being developed.

AIM Level 3, in recognising the requirement to continue to develop a qualified workforce that can confidently meet the needs of all children wishing to participate in the ECCE programme, provides for a multi-annual training programme for pre-school practitioners.

AIM Level 4 provides access to mentoring for pre-school practitioners from a team of dedicated AIM Early Years Specialists.

AIM Level 5 provides for access to specialised equipment, appliances, assistive technology and/or minor alterations capital grants for early years’ settings to ensure children with a disability can participate in the ECCE programme.

AIM Level 6 provides access to HSE therapeutic services where they are critical to enable the child to be enrolled and to meaningfully participate in the ECCE programme.

AIM Level 7 provides additional assistance in the pre-school room where this is critical to ensuring a child’s participation in the ECCE programme. In line with emerging best practice to support the integration and independence of children with a disability, AIM does not fund Special Needs Assistants (SNAs). Rather, it provides financial support to the pre-school provider, which can be used either to reduce the adult to child ratio in the pre-school room or to buy in additional assistance to the pre-school room. Accordingly, Level 7 assistance is a shared resource for the pre-school setting.

Pobal has provided the following information regarding the number of AIM applications for Levels 1, 4, 5 and 7 received by county since 2016. As the 2018-19 programme year is not yet complete, the number of applications in relation to 2018-19 may rise further during the final weeks of the programme year.

County	Level 1 - INCO Capitation	Level 1 - INCO Capitation	Level 4 - Mentoring from Early Years Specialists	Level 4 - Mentoring from Early Years Specialists	Level 4 - Mentoring from Early Years Specialists	Level 5 - Alterations & Equipment
ECCE programme year	2017-18	2018-19	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2016-17
Carlow	12	26	29	53	66	1
Cavan	4	23	49	47	73	13
Clare	31	46	100	100	127	13
Cork	104	171	345	437	546	42
Donegal	47	55	113	126	131	16
Dublin	117	281	507	721	945	30
Galway	36	99	120	158	188	13
Kerry	51	60	92	130	114	21
Kildare	44	72	104	163	179	16
Kilkenny	17	33	38	55	69	9
Laois	18	26	57	78	102	11
Leitrim	6	10	17	22	19	7
Limerick	63	73	135	156	204	13
Longford	5	16	26	19	29	2
Louth	17	32	77	112	171	9
Mayo	25	49	50	99	103	7
Meath	28	67	98	182	197	21
Monaghan	13	19	27	24	43	5
Offaly	11	20	42	58	98	7
Roscommon	20	32	30	46	49	2
Sligo	18	22	21	29	42	8
Tipperary	25	63	88	119	143	15
Waterford	19	34	54	62	87	9
Westmeath	17	27	47	58	78	5
Wexford	23	56	87	111	139	3
Wicklow	12	43	42	92	91	6
Total	783	1,455	2,395	3,257	4,033	304

table contd.

County	Level 5 - Alterations & Equipment	Level 5 - Alterations & Equipment	Level 7 - Additional Assistance in the preschool room	Level 7 - Additional Assistance in the preschool room	Level 7 - Additional Assistance in the preschool room
ECCE programme year	2017-18	2018-19	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19
Carlow	4	10	18	48	75
Cavan	10	10	43	64	82
Clare	16	26	90	111	124
Cork	89	82	263	516	667
Donegal	27	14	91	137	173
Dublin	49	71	323	750	1,126
Galway	16	17	99	186	231
Kerry	23	34	71	141	153
Kildare	17	7	90	160	214
Kilkenny	11	5	30	59	90
Laois	14	10	41	83	114
Leitrim	3	3	12	23	29
Limerick	27	14	118	182	247
Longford		6	20	21	33
Louth	8	18	59	123	206
Mayo	22	23	35	105	137
Meath	26	30	50	173	255
Monaghan	4	2	25	36	52
Offaly	11	7	28	71	106
Roscommon	7	2	20	50	61
Sligo	9	6	19	35	56
Tipperary	15	20	69	138	183
Waterford	4	7	48	64	102
Westmeath	2	8	32	58	87
Wexford	4	12	69	139	178
Wicklow	7	2	29	85	102
Total	425	446	1,792	3,558	4,883