Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 December 2023
83. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth how the funding increase for his Department announced in budget 2024 will provide for an expansion of targeted access and inclusion model supports to children in County Carlow beyond time spent in the ECCE programme, both in term and out of term; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55524/23]
View answerI ask the Minister how the funding increase for his Department announced in budget 2024 will provide for an expansion of targeted access and inclusion model supports to children in County Carlow beyond time spent in the ECCE programme, both in term and out of term, and if he will make a statement on the matter.
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 is informed by an independent evaluation of AIM, which has just been completed and which I will publish in January. All participants in that evaluation - teachers, parents, educators and providers - supported the expansion of AIM supports to hours outside the ECCE programme.
In budget 2024, I was pleased to be able 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 addition €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 currently under design. I will communicate in early 2024. Information relating to individual counties will not be available until the expansion is in place. Actual uptake will depend on a range of factors, including parental choice. It is my ambition that, over time, all children with a disability enrolled in early learning and care services will have access to supports under AIM. To this end, my officials will next consider how younger children with a disability, who are not old enough yet to register for the ECCE programme, could also be supported through AIM.
I welcome the increase of €14 million announced in budget 2024 for the access and inclusion model. I also welcome that the Minister has said €7 million will be allocated to support children with a disability requiring these supports to access and meaningfully participate in the ECCE programme.
I want to ask the Minister about therapies and supports. Can the Minister outline what these supports and therapies for children with disability will be? What other supports will be put in these schemes for them?
I would also like to ask the Minister about the expansion of services for children with complex needs and respite for children. Will the Minister provide an update on that? While I welcome the Minister's commitment on this, it is important for children with a disability and their families that they get as much support as possible here.
What we are achieving with AIM is obviously very much focused on early years and allowing the greatest degree of integration possible in order that children are able to participate within the mainstream ECCE programme, initially just for three hours per day, five days a week, but subsequently increasing that according to the additional funding.
Children with a physical, intellectual or sensory disability have a range of other needs. Many of those are being addressed under the children's disability network teams that the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, spoke about earlier on. We are acutely conscious of the insufficient level of staffing across many of our CDNTs. That is why I and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, published the roadmap for progressing disability services a number of months ago and why, later this afternoon, Deputy Rabbitte and I will be publishing the disability action plan setting out our steps to improve capacity in disability services for adults and children over the next three years and the investment that will be needed to secure that.
I welcome that. It is important that funding is addressed in these areas. I welcome the commitment of the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, to this. I note my colleague is trying to get in on this question. I thank the Minister for his answers this morning.
I have spoken to the Minister on a number of occasions about the need to introduce large-scale grant aid towards the provision of childcare centres. As the Minister will recall, some time ago there was grant aid available of up to €1.1 million to assist community organisations providing much needed childcare. Some of the childcare facilities that were developed at that time need to be upgraded. There are other areas that need new childcare facilities. I hope the Minister can have a very substantial increase in grant aid to assist both private providers and community organisations to provide new and additional childcare accommodation.
The Deputy has raised this with me consistently over the past year. I am delighted to be able to say that earlier this week I announced pillar 2 of Building Blocks - the capacity grants. These are capital grants available to childcare providers, as the Deputy says, in the community and private sectors, to increase their capacity and grow the number of children they can provide services to. Some €15 million will be available in 2024 and a further €20 million will be available in 2025, or €35 million across those two years.
This will be very important in addressing issues of under-capacity. We know that there is a lack of capacity in certain parts of the country. The allocation for 2024 was announced recently. Services will be able to make applications and support them in the context of the work that we are doing, particularly by examining those areas of the country where there is undersupply.
I very much welcome that. I know that there are such communities right throughout the country. There are a number of small towns in my constituency about which I spoke to the Minister that will warmly welcome substantial grant aid. In many of our smaller towns, villages and rural communities, there is a great demand for childcare places because the population is increasing. It is essential that we provide enough childcare facilities in communities in order that people will not have to go elsewhere to seek such services.
I thank the Deputy very much. The capital grants are a key part of our ability to expand capacity. It is important to note that the core funding we have introduced is also being used to expand capacity. We have added money in each of the two years since it was initially introduced to allow for a growth in capacity. Many services are actually expanding capacity as a result of the extra funding that has been provided.
On a final point, and it is one we have spoken about, there will be a significant amount of housing built over the coming years under Housing for All. There are requirements to provide childcare facilities when a certain number of houses are delivered. We know that those services and buildings are not always delivered or are not always designed appropriately. My Department is working with the Department of housing and local authorities to ensure how we can better achieve the delivery of those early learning and care facilities which will be so important to new communities all over the country.
