Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 July 2021
257. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the level of annual funding given to the access and inclusion model between 2015 and 2020, by year. [38271/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Access and Inclusion Model (AIM), which launched in June 2016, is a model of supports designed to ensure that children with disabilities can access the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. Its goal is to empower pre-school providers to deliver an inclusive pre-school experience, ensuring that every eligible child can meaningfully participate in the ECCE programme and reap the benefits of quality early learning and care.
AIM is a child-centred model, involving seven levels of progressive support, moving from the universal to the targeted, based on the needs of the child in the context of the pre-school setting they are attending, and therefore requiring no formal diagnosis. AIM is administered by Pobal on behalf of my Department.
The table below shows the annual allocated funding for AIM from when implementation began in mid-2016 up to 2020.
|
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
|
|
Allocation |
€14.5m |
€32.4m |
€25.4m |
€35.5m |
€43.7m |
