Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 May 2017
305. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of children that will benefit from the second ECCE year in 2017; the number that have benefitted from it in 2016; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23614/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraEntry to the ECCE programme is based on a programme year that runs between September and August, so for the purpose of this PQ we propose to answer your query based on 2016 - 2017 and then 2017- 2018 programme years.
To date, approximately 14,000 children have registered for both 2015 - 2016 and 2016 - 2017 cycles and based on current registrations we would estimate that a similar number of children will register for both 2016 - 2017 and 2017-2018. A full year's registration won't be known until the Summer when the programme closes for that cycle. The rate of uptake of the second year is dependent on a number of external factors including parental choice with regard to school starting age.
