Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 19 November 2019
579. Deputy Darragh O'Brien asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the status of the provision of the second year of free play schooling for a child (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47377/19]
View answerOverage 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 they were permitted to split their ECCE entitlement over two years, e.g. a child may have availed of three days a week ECCE provision in year one and two days a week in year two. In the cases where the child would have been overage for ECCE in the latter year, an overage exemption was granted.
It is important to note that this provision of an overage exemption by my Department for the ECCE programme was never intended as a mechanism to delay a child’s entry to primary education or to address any issue of non-availability of a school place. In the past, the operation of the system of overage exemption has caused confusion where some parents and providers have incorrectly believed that an overage exemption approval from the DCYA represented a derogation from age requirements attaching to the statutory requirement that a child attend primary school before the age of 6 years.
The overage exemption process has recently been the subject of a consultation process and a report was produced by the National Disability Authority (NDA). Officials from my Department are now considering policy options following on from 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 preschool to primary school.
With regard to the specific case raised by the Deputy, the information received to process the ECCE overage exemption application is incomplete. Officials from my Department have contacted the relevant parties to assist them in completing their application.
