Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 November 2023
32. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth how the extra €7 million allocated in budget 2024 to the access and inclusion model, AIM, programme will be delivered; to provide further clarity on the number of extra hours eligible children will receive; what ages the scheme is being extended to; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48401/23]
View answerMy question regards the announcement that was made in the budget a couple of weeks ago about the AIM programme and the additional provisions. I think an extra €7 million has been allocated to the AIM programme. I would like some more information on exactly how that will be allocated. Is the plan to extend it past the early childhood care and education, ECCE hours, or what exactly is the plan for it?
I thank the Deputy. The award-winning access and inclusion model, AIM, has supported more than 27,000 children with a disability to access and meaningfully participate in the ECCE programme since it was first introduced in September 2016. A commitment to expand AIM beyond the ECCE programme was first made in the First 5 strategy. The fulfilment of this commitment was to be informed by an independent evaluation of AIM. That evaluation is now complete and it will be published before the end of this year.
Participants in that evaluation - parents, educators and providers - unanimously supported an extension of targeted AIM supports to hours outside the ECCE programme. Earlier this year, I set out an ambition to start this expansion of AIM, and in budget 2024, I was very pleased to secure an additional €14 million for AIM. Some €7 million of this allocation will support the increasing cohort of children with a disability requiring AIM supports to access and meaningfully participate in the ECCE programme. An additional €7 million provides for an expansion of targeted AIM supports to these children beyond time spent in the ECCE programme, in term and out of term, from next September. The full-year cost of this development will be €21 million.
The specific rules underpinning this extension are currently being developed. However, the intent of the additional funding is to support ECCE-enrolled children with a disability to remain in services for the full day if they wish to do so. The precise allocation model for this expansion of AIM is under design, and that will be communicated in early 2024.
It is my ambition that, over time, all children with a disability enrolled in early learning and childcare services will have access to supports under AIM. To this end, my officials will next consider how younger children with a disability not yet eligible for the ECCE programme can also be supported through AIM.
I thank the Minister. The AIM report he referenced came up today in a committee meeting we had with regard to early years. Does the Minister expect that AIM report to be published before the end of this year?
If I am picking the Minister up correctly, it is envisaged that for children who are currently eligible for ECCE, the idea of the expansion initially is that if they wish to take up a day care place, they will also have AIM attached to it. That sounds great, but children up to the age of three are left totally out of that section. I also wonder about the cost. A lot of parents would love to be able to avail of the full day care. Has any work been done with regard to the cost and the capacity, or does the Minister expect that will be part of the report?
I thank the Deputy. I caught a small amount of the hearings on TV earlier on today. Yes, we do hope to publish the report by the end of this year.
As the Deputy knows, AIM right now supports access to three hours per day or 15 hours per week for 38 weeks of the year. Our aim at the start is to enhance that to allow up to a full day, and move it beyond the 38 weeks of the ECCE year to the full-year provision. Then we will look to broaden that out to bring in children up to three years old, and we would hope in the future to even look at school-age childcare. AIM is an expensive scheme because it is really good and it works well. I have always said there would be an incremental expansion of AIM, but we have the money from September 2024 to begin that. The beginning is to extend from three hours per day to a full day, and extend beyond 38 weeks per year to 52 weeks per year.
I welcome that. AIM is an excellent programme and it is a huge benefit to children, particularly in the ECCE years. I know it is very frustrating for parents of children who are younger than that but it is welcome.
I want to ask about some of the other issues that came up today, and I know we have a committee session on this next week. There was definitely clear frustration, with people feeling they had engaged in a consultation process, and I am talking about the providers and the workers, with one particular situation having been referenced, where they had a new set of accounts, and I am only using that as an example, but the people said they went to consultations, they were very honest and gave their feedback, and yet, after all the consultations, they got a letter saying this situation is going ahead. Will there be consultation with the sector with regard to the expansion of AIM? It is welcome, it definitely needs to happen and it is a good thing it is happening, but there needs to be consultation with those who work in the sector and provide the service.
I agree with the Deputy in that this is a really positive move in terms of expanding access to AIM. It is something I and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, would have spoken about as a way to support children with a disability. As the Deputy knows, we are also bringing in the brand new equal participation model, and I think that will be seen in a number of years as being as significant as AIM in supporting children with socioeconomic disadvantage, as opposed to a disability.
We engage extremely regularly with the sector through the early years forum, where there are provider, employer, educator and parents groups all represented together. On the issue of financial reporting, which ties into what the Deputy was talking about, we are very aware there is an administrative burden there. I accept that, and it has increased. That is why, about a month ago, I announced we were doing an end-to-end review of the administrative burden on early years providers. I have allocated staff in my Department to lead that. We have done a call for engagement by representative groups from services so they can feed in their actual experience. I hope to be able to bring an action plan responding to the administrative burden, probably in quarter 2 of next year, and to start implementing that.
