Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Notwithstanding the work that everyone here - and our respective parties - did for the recent children's rights referendum, I know how hard the Minister worked in the months leading up to it and I congratulate her on the outcome. I know the margin was tight but the passing of that referendum was an historic achievement.

Deputy Conway has already raised the issue of the regulation of providers in the ECCE scheme, about which I am also concerned. With regard to the proposal to cut the capitation grant by 4% next year, have negotiations with the providers started and has that proposal met with resistance? Some children fall through the cracks after they have had their ECCE year because, for a variety of reasons, they are not capable of starting mainstream school on completion of the preschool year. I ask the Minister to take the small number of such children into consideration so that the strides they have made during the ECCE year are not reversed by their being left in limbo for a year.