Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 5 November 2024
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills
Integration of Early Years Learning into Primary Level: Discussion
11:00 am
Mr. Dalton Tattan:
Not at all. I was going to talk about how the Department for children has introduced the Equal Start programme. This is a relatively recent endeavour but something not completely different from the DEIS programme that operates at school level where, again, supports are provided to those who are at greatest risk of disadvantage. In terms of the evolution of the early years sector, it is in a very different space, whereas the primary and post-primary school systems have been around for such a long time. There is still a journey to travel in that regard. We work very closely with our colleagues in the Department with responsibility for children and we are keen to try to build as many connections as possible in respect of the curriculum and it lots of other ways too.