Averil Power (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The accepted wisdom in rolling out the ECCE year was that it would be particularly good for children in disadvantaged areas whose parents could not afford private child care. The evaluation actually shows that this is not true. The ECCE year did not close the gap at all because those children were just getting the same interventions as everybody else. Everybody was lifted a little bit, but the gap between the two cohorts of children was just as severe. The lesson to be taken from that is very clear in the report that the Government commissioned. I appreciate that decisions are being made about whether to provide a second preschool year or whether there are other priorities in child care. If the Minister is genuinely serious about tackling disadvantage and about early intervention for children who need it most, she will pause and consider that report, instead of giving everybody a little bit in the two and a half hours. She should establish proper early-years intervention programmes for children from disadvantaged areas and children with special needs, who are getting virtually nothing at present, as well as for areas where there have been severe cuts to programmes, such as Jigsaw in Darndale and the community crèches. The Minister is giving to everybody with one hand but damaging others.