The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is currently provided by private commercial and community/not-for-profit pre-school services with more than 4,300 services throughout the country participating in the programme.
I announced in Budget 2016 additional annual funding of €85 million to support the achievement of affordable, accessible, high quality childcare. This additional investment provides for a considerable expansion of the ECCE programme with children qualifying when they reach 3 years of age and remaining in the programme until they make the transition to primary school. The extended free pre-school provision will be introduced from September 2016.
Following the introduction of this new measure, services that are presently providing the free pre-school provision will continue to do so if they renew their contract with my Department. Pre-school services applying as new entrants to the ECCE programme will be considered if they satisfy the ECCE programme requirements.
In relation to the provision of the ECCE programme from primary school facilities, the issue of school ownership impacts on the extent to which the State can influence how primary schools use any additional facilities or space they may have. The vast majority of primary school buildings in the country are in private ownership. Of the 3,278 primary schools in 2014, only 190 (6%) were in the ownership of the Minister for Education and Skills. The remaining 94% of primary schools were in private ownership. The State has no authority to compel Patrons who are the owners of primary school sites to accommodate pre-school services on their own property or to direct them in relation to the selection of suitable pre-school providers to deliver these services.
I am aware that the Minister for Education and Skills is, however, supportive of coherent measures that facilitate greater community use of schools while respecting the core role of schools. In relation to use of existing school premises, my colleague is of the view that, in the first instance, the core role of a school in delivering education to its student body has to be paramount and any additional activities have to adhere to that core role. There are also a number of practical issues, such as lease terms, insurance, etc., that need to be properly examined for schools considering additional activities on their premises.
