Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 31 May 2023
149. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will set out the early childhood education and care vacant places, the enrolled places, and the overall capacity for places in Dublin Central for the years 2020 to 2023, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26582/23]
View answerThe Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is a free universal two-year pre-school programme available to all children within the eligible age range. It provides children with their first formal experience of early learning prior to commencing primary school. The programme is provided for three hours per day, five days per week over 38 weeks per year and the programme year runs from September to June each year.
The table provided below is based on data captured through the Early Years Sector Profile Surveys 2020/22 (gathered in Spring 2021 with a response rate of 57%) and 2021/22 (gathered in Spring 2022 with a response rate of 82.5%) – extrapolated to take account of all services delivering the ECCE programme in Dublin Central.
|
- |
2020/21 |
2021/22 |
|
ECCE vacant Places |
252 |
256 |
|
ECCE enrolled Places (places currently occupied) |
1,676 |
1,732 |
|
ECCE overall capacity |
1,928 |
1,988 |
The calculations assume ECCE places apply to children in the following age ranges:
• 3 years+ to 4 years
• 4 years+ to 5 years (Non-school going)
• 5 years+ to 6 years (Non-school going)
Data collection for the Early Years Sector Profile 2022/23 is currently underway and will give an updated position for Dublin Central.
For the current programme year (September 2022 – June 2023), there are 108,482 enrolled on this programme nationally.
