Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 April 2025
92. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to provide the number of access and inclusion model childcare places provided since 2020, by county, in tabular form; the actions she is taking to increase places; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20982/25]
View answerI am asking this question for Deputy Wall. Will the Minister provide the number of access and inclusion model childcare places provided since 2020 by county in tabular form? What are the actions she is taking to increase the number of places? Will she make a statement on the matter?
The access and inclusion model, AIM, has supported more than 24,000 children with additional needs to access and meaningfully participate in the early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme since 2020. In September 2024, AIM was expanded beyond time spent in the ECCE programme for ECCE-aged children. These children can now access AIM supports for up to an additional three hours per day during the ECCE term and up to six hours per day outside of the ECCE term, that is, during holiday periods.
The supports available under AIM can be universal or targeted. Universal supports are designed to create a more inclusive culture in settings through training courses and qualifications for staff. Where universal supports are not enough to meet the needs of an individual child, targeted supports are available. These targeted supports are allocated based on the individual child’s specific needs and can include specialised equipment, appliances or capital grants towards minor building alterations.
Under level 7 of the access and inclusion model, services can also receive additional funding to either reduce the child-to-adult ratio in the room or to fund an extra staff member as a shared resource with other children in the setting. Data show that approximately 96% of AIM level 7 applications result in a recommendation for either a single or shared support.
For this programme year to date, more than 9,000 children have been approved for targeted supports under AIM. A table showing a breakdown of targeted supports across counties broken down by each programme year will be made available to the Deputy. I will ensure that happens. It is intended that, over time, all children with additional needs will have access to supports under AIM to access and participate in early learning and childcare. To this end, my officials are currently designing tailored AIM supports for younger children not yet eligible for the ECCE programme.
I thank the Minister. I appreciate that. If that table could also be shared with my colleague, Deputy Wall, that would be great. AIM is extremely important for early childhood care. As the Minister will know from her previous Department, the resourcing of special educational needs supports is very necessary in every facet of education. The issue of maintaining AIM comes back to financial constraints as regards level 7 and trying to get people into level 7 courses so that they can provide the universal and targeted supports the Minister has mentioned. At the end of year 3, the evaluation report outlined that work was under way to encourage families of students with less visible disabilities, such as speech and language issues and autism spectrum disorders in particular, to come in. I would appreciate if the Minister could share that information with Deputy Wall, as she said she will.
For sure, I will. It is a great model. Any additional supports that can be made available to children in any educational setting should be made available. As I previously said in respect of AIM supports, there is flexibility in the model. That is important. It can provide targeted supports and universal supports. Targeted measures are very much based on the individual needs of children. These might comprise specialised equipment or appliances or a capital grant to make minor alterations. As I have said, there can also be supports to reduce the child-adult ratio in the room or to provide an extra staff member to be shared as a resource. There is great flexibility there. I reiterate that we intend to go beyond what is currently there and to design a model for younger children who are not yet eligible for the ECCE programme. That would also be a positive step.
I thank the Minister. That is really to be welcomed. As the Minister has mentioned it, I will briefly touch on enhancing settings, access to settings and capital grants. As she has said, if we are trying to move towards more targeted supports for children with less visible disabilities, such as those on the autism spectrum and those who have speech and language difficulties, targeted support and capital grants for enhancing access to settings will be much needed. The Minister's reply is very much welcomed.
As I said previously, we all know that the earlier a child can get additional support, the better the outcome. We know that from our present education settings. When we talk about early learning and support, the earlier we can provide supports, the better. That is the specific reason we are looking at going beyond the ECCE model and including children who have not yet reached that point. The beauty of AIM is that it is showing itself to be flexible. We are continually learning through the model. Where there are opportunities to do things better, to enhance things or to meet the individual needs of a child, it is the aim and ambition of the programme to do so. We will continue to keep it under review and see what the scope is going forward. Again, it speaks to this understanding that, the earlier a child has access to additional support, the better it is for the child. I am keen to see this new model take root.
