Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 January 2021
151. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the households and persons permitted to avail of childcare in crèches; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2028/21]
View answerBetween 11th and 31st January, access to early learning and childcare services is restricted to the children of essential workers and vulnerable children. The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) pre school programme is not operating during this time.
Essential workers are those that work in the list of essential services published on gov.ie. One parent who is an essential worker confers eligibility on the child to access a service. For the purposes of accessing early learning and childcare services, an essential worker may be working from home.
Vulnerable children include those who currently have sponsorship arrangements under the National Childcare Scheme (NCS). In addition, a child may be considered vulnerable because of factors related to their personal development, features of their family life, or because of wider influences that impact on them within their community. Some children who fall outside of NCS sponsor arrangements may be considered vulnerable for a range of reasons including children who experience family poverty; children and families with complex support needs; children living in households where there is domestic violence; and children whose families are significantly adversely affected by ill health or bereavement. Early learning and childcare providers have been requested to make every effort to accommodate vulnerable children during this period.
The levels of uptake of services will be closely monitored by my Department during January and the conditions on children’s eligibility to access services during this period will be subject to ongoing review.
