Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 April 2024
1057. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 579 of 5 March 2024, the reason preventing him from making a provision for granting a second overage exemption in this exceptional case (details supplied); if the professional report supporting a second year has been considered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13605/24]
View answerOverage exemptions to the ECCE programme were introduced at the onset of the ECCE programme in 2010. At that time ECCE operated for a 38 week period, or one programme year. For some children with special/additional needs, attending preschool five days a week was not feasible and an allowance was made to avail of the ECCE programme over a two year period.
All children are now eligible for two full years of ECCE. The child referred to was eligible for the ECCE programme in September 2021 and again in September 2022. One year overage exemptions are granted in a limited number of circumstances and an overage exemption was granted for the current programme year in September 2023 for the child named.
The child named is now of school going age. In the review of the overage exemption process which was carried out by the National Disability Authority (NDA) for my Department and the Department of Education in 2018 the NDA concluded in their published report that it is in the best interest of children with additional needs to transition to primary school with their age cohort.
Supports are available for school aged children through the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), affiliated to the Department of Education, to support children in the primary school setting. I would urge the child’s parents to contact her local Special Education Needs Organiser (SENO) for further assistance at NCSE.ie.
