Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 September 2013
7. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the priorities for the new early years strategy; the additional funding she has secured for its implementation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38696/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraSince my appointment as Minister I have consistently highlighted the importance of investing and supporting quality interventions in the early years of children's lives. There is an increasing body of Irish and international evidence which quantifies the benefits of early years interventions in terms of improving children's outcomes and in delivering significant economic and societal return to the State.
In line with this commitment, I announced that I would lead the preparation of Ireland's first early years strategy, which I indicated should represent an innovative and dynamic blueprint addressing a range of issues affecting children in their first years of life, such as child health and well-being, parenting and family support, learning and development, play and recreation, and early childhood care and education. This will represent one of three, more detailed strategies under the children and young people's policy framework which is currently being developed by my Department.
I have appointed an expert advisory group, chaired by Dr. Eilis Hennessy of UCD, to advise my Department on recommendations for inclusion in the strategy.
I have been asked by Deputies Troy and Ó Caoláin when I was getting the report. I have received the report and the recommendations and I will publish them shortly. I thank Dr. Eilis Hennessy and the group, which represents a wide range of organisations working in the early years, for their time, commitment and hard work over the past year. I met the group on a number of occasions and it had consultations with many organisations. Once the report is published, I ask that the group has a consultation day to discuss the recommendations with a wide stakeholder group. I hope the Deputies from this House will attend. It will be a useful day in terms of the blueprint for the early years. That is a key step in the development of the early years strategy.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House
I am pleased to advise Deputies that the group has completed its work and I have this week received its report and recommendations which I will publish very shortly. I thank the members of the group for the dedication and enthusiasm they have shown and the time they have committed to the work of the group. The expert advisory group report represents a key step in the development of the early years strategy and will provide a very strong foundation for a robust and meaningful strategy. I expect the finalised strategy to be published later this year. The final strategy will be further informed by the growing body of international and domestic research on the importance of early years for child development, including findings from the "Growing Up in Ireland" study. It will also be informed by the evaluations from the prevention and early intervention projects which have been funded jointly by my Department and Atlantic Philanthropy. The major programme of institutional change which is under way, including the establishment of the child and family agency, will also be taken into account.
Budget discussions are ongoing at present and will determine funding provision for 2014. I expect the early years strategy to identify opportunities for more effective utilisation of existing resources and funding as well as priority areas for further investment through funding availability over the life of the strategy.
I will be happy to participate in any debate in this regard. The Minister may not be aware that I published a discussion paper during the summer, "Investing in Tomorrow", detailing five key areas my party believes should be prioritised. I am pleased to hear the Minister say the report will be published by the end of the year, but she also promised that in 2012.
I never promised that.
The record of the House shows that the Minister promised that.
The group was only set up last year.
Can the Minister confirm that it will be published before Christmas? Will it be published before the budget? Will it inform part of the Minister's budget proposals? Having received it and read it, can the Minister confirm it is an ambitious, action-specific, target-based report with specific timeframes for implementation and that it will be appropriately resourced?
Deputy Troy sounds as if he has read it.
I wish I had. If the Minister gives me a copy, I will read it over the weekend.
It will be published shortly, before the budget. It is very detailed and is the blueprint I asked the group to provide for the development of the early years sector. I thank the people who put such work into it.
It is a high level policy recommendation. After that, we need an implementation plan and commitment to it. There will be a consultation day. The group was only set up last year and it was always going to take a year to do its work. I have just received the report and I will publish it shortly.
With regard to dealing with special needs children under the new early years strategy, a related question, No. 11, concerns the early childhood care and education. The current system is very cumbersome in terms of having to deal with local child care committees. It is bureaucratic, particularly for parents who find themselves dealing with Departments to access a right. Deputy Martin spoke about the case of Kate Crowley in his constituency and said there is something fundamentally wrong with a system that puts parents through the mill. Is there not a real need for advocacy at the centre of the system, particularly in respect of special needs children and their parents in accessing services?
This concerns Question No. 11 but the general point about the inclusion of children with special needs in the preschool programme is well made. It is important to intervene with children with special needs as early as possible. The early school years programme is very helpful to those children. It is available free to every child between three and four years of age, including children with special needs.
My Department has initiated a number of ways the service can be helpful to children with special needs, including an exemption from the upper age limit for qualification under the programme where a child is developmentally delayed and would benefit from starting primary school at a later age. In addition, children with special needs can apply to have the preschool years split over two years on a pro rata basis. For example, they can avail of the programme for two days a week in the first year and three days a week in the second year. Applications can be made prior to the child starting preschool.
In response to the question, my Department is working with the office of disability and mental health in the Department of Health to examine how supports to facilitate the inclusion of children with special needs in mainstream preschool settings can be improved. There are a number of challenges in the area and it is worthy of further discussion. If there are extra initiatives we can take in order that children with special needs are integrated more seamlessly into the services, I want to see that. A second year will benefit all children, including those with special needs. We must work on that preschool quality agenda to which Deputy Troy and I referred.
The inclusion of children with special educational needs is one of the priorities in my discussion paper. Consultation with the sector suggests that it is not fit for purpose. We spoke about this at a committee meeting in July. Some 271 children with special educational needs are availing of the split preschool year. We were both amazed at this low number, which was supplied by the Department. Something needs to happen in this area as the approach is totally disjointed. There is great variance between counties. In some counties it is very good and the HSE is doing a good job. On the other side, in some counties it is very bad and we need to have a proper system in order that parents of children with special educational needs know they can avail of the universal preschool year. In some instances, preschool providers are turning away children because they cannot provide for the special needs of the children. I hope that area will receive priority in the early child care strategy.
I welcome the Deputy's discussion paper and the work he has done on the early years. I agree with him that this issue of special needs and access to preschool requires further study at national level. There is local variation. We have child care committees in every county and, for the first time, they are being organised at national level. That will make it conducive to finding out precisely what is happening in each of the counties. We will do precisely what Deputy Troy is suggesting, to have a national approach to the inclusion of children with special needs in preschool. There is a national approach in so far as we have the initiatives I outlined to Deputy Terence Flanagan, but there may be scope for further development of a national approach to dealing with the issues being presented at county level.
