Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 589: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if there are any circumstances in which children who marginally fall outside the age requirements may be considered under the early childhood care and education scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9322/12]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme was introduced in January 2010 and provides a free pre-school year to all eligible children in the year before commencing primary school. About 66,000 children, that is approximately 95% of children in the year before school, are availing of the free pre-school provision at this time.

Children qualify for the free pre-school year where they are aged more than 3 years 2 months and less than 4 years 7 months at 1 September in the relevant year. This means, for example, that children born between 2 February 2007 and 30 June 2008 qualified for the free pre-school year in September 2011 and children born in July and August of 2008 will qualify for the programme in September 2012.

Exceptions to the upper age limit are allowed where a child has been assessed by the HSE as having a special need or where a child cannot start primary school until s/he is more than 5 years 6 months due to the enrolment policy of the local school. There are no exceptions for children who are below the qualifying age.

The objective of the ECCE programme is to make early learning in a formal setting available to eligible children in the year before they commence primary school. To achieve this, services participating in the pre-school year are expected to provide age-appropriate activities and programmes to children within a particular age cohort. For this reason, it is appropriate to set minimum and maximum limits to the age range within which children will qualify.

The ECCE programme will continue to be evaluated and developed as resources permit. Future developments relating to early years care and education will be considered during preparation of the new National Early Years Strategy 2012.