Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 April 2023
475. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will make supports available to children under three years who require tube feeding who must attend childcare. [19179/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department provides funding to services to use for, amongst other things, training and supports for early years educators. The new funding stream - “Core Funding” - is funding directly to providers (supply-side funding) and is designed to improve affordability, quality, inclusion and sustainability. Core Funding facilitates quality enhancements across services by contributing towards non-contact time, such as continuing professional development, curriculum implementation, and collaboration. Core Funding operates alongside the NCS and ECCE and constitutes additional income for providers on top of funding for these schemes, as well as income from parental fees.
Providers can utilise the public funding for both contact-time and non-contact time as they see fit to meet the needs of children attending their service. As such, providers can use this funding to access training and support with regard to tube feeding.
For children in ECCE, the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) is in place to support children with additional needs. The goal of AIM is to create a more inclusive environment in preschools, so all children, regardless of ability, can benefit from quality early learning and care. The model achieves this by providing universal supports to preschool settings, and targeted supports, which focus on the needs of the individual child, without requiring a diagnosis of disability.
To participate in ECCE (and therefore to access AIM) children must have turned 2 years and 8 months of age before 31 August and not be older than 5 years and 6 months of age on or before 30 June of the programme year. One of the commitments within First 5, a Government Strategy for Babies and Children, was to undertake an end-of-year-three evaluation of AIM. That evaluation has now been completed, with the final report due to be published later this year. Subject to evaluation findings and other relevant developments, Department officials will be considering enhancements to, and/or expansion of AIM to, for example, to children outside of the eligible age range for the ECCE programme.
In addition, I would note that my Department is currently operating the Complex Healthcare Needs (CHN) trial in collaboration with the Department of Health (DoH) and the Health Service Executive (HSE). The CHN trial provides nursing support to facilitate a child’s attendance during Early Childhood Care and Education Programme (ECCE) hours where the child has complex medical needs and is in receipt of a Paediatric Home care Package (PHCP). The HSE Key Contact must complete a clinical nursing need assessment. If the assessment determines that nursing support is required to attend preschool, a registered nurse will be engaged as an extension of the HSE Paediatric Home Care Package.
