I propose to take Questions Nos. 432 to 435, inclusive, together.
At present, the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme covers children who have reached the age of 3 years and 2 months by 1st September of the relevant year. From September 2016, I am expanding the ECCE programme to allow children to access free pre-school from the time they are 3 years of age until they start primary school. There will be three intakes of eligible children during the pre-school year: children who reach the age of 3 between April and August can access the programme from September; children who reach the age of 3 between September and December can access the programme from January; and children who reach the age of 3 between January and March can access the programme from April.
The number of weeks of free pre-school a child will benefit from will depend on their birth date and on the age at which they start primary school. This number ranges from 38 weeks (for children born between April and August who start school at age 4) to 88 weeks (for children born between January and March who start school at age 5). This equates to an estimated 23 additional weeks on average. The estimated average was derived by taking the average number of weeks a child will benefit from (i.e. 61 weeks) and deducting current entitlement (i.e. 38 weeks).
Average number of pre-school weeks by month of birth and of enrolment in pre-school
|
|
Average no. of ECCE weeks
|
Average no. of ECCE weeks
|
Birth Month
|
Enrolment Month
|
Start school age 4
|
Start school age 5
|
Jan - Mar
|
April
|
50
|
88
|
Apr - Aug
|
September
|
38
|
76
|
Sep - Dec
|
January
|
61
|
61
|
My Department estimates that the number of children benefiting from the ECCE programme will increase from 67,000 to over 127,000 in a given year. This figure is based on population estimates (drawn from the Central Statistics), estimates on school starting age (drawn from the Department of Education and Skills), and the current rate of participation (i.e. 95% uptake).
The cost of this extended provision is estimated to be an additional €47 million in 2016. This includes the cost of restoring capitation rates to providers to pre-2012 levels from September 2016.
As this initiative will begin in September 2016, the total additional costs of this extended provision - estimated to be €112 million - will not be realised in full until 2017. This extended provision is estimated to result in 23 additional weeks of free pre-school for children on average. A full second year of pre-school (i.e. 38 additional weeks for all children) is estimated to cost in the region of €175 million.