Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 July 2022
399. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the estimated cost to increase the funding allocation to access and inclusion model programme by 15%. [38501/22]
View answerThe 2022 allocated budget for the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) is €45.55 million.
This funding covers the cost of the seven levels of AIM, which encompass a range of both universal and targeted supports for pre-school settings. This funding provides a programme of capital grants for specialised equipment, appliances, assistive technology and/or minor alterations for pre-school settings to ensure children with a disability can participate in the ECCE programme. It is also intended to facilitate either the recruitment of additional staff or to compensate services for a reduction in the adult-to-child ratio in the pre-school room, supporting the meaningful participation of all children in the room in the ECCE universal pre-school programme.
It provides access to therapeutic services where they are critical to enable a child to be enrolled and to meaningfully participate in the ECCE programme, and access to expert early year’s educational advice and support from a team of dedicated Early Years Specialists.
It also provides for continued development of a qualified and confident workforce through the provision of ongoing training courses such as Hanen and SPEL and provision of funding for training under the Leadership for Inclusion (LINC) training programme and employment of Inclusion Co-Ordinator (INCO) positions in ECCE sessions.
A 15% increase in funding for the overall Access and Inclusion Model would cost an additional €6.83 million per annum.
