Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

All community and private pre-school services which meet the requirements of the scheme will be invited to apply for entry to the scheme and all notified pre-school services will be contacted by the office of the Minister of State with responsibility for children and youth affairs by the end of May 2009.

To introduce the scheme as quickly as possible and maximise the number of children and their parents who will benefit from the outset, the Government did not propose to wait until the school year beginning September 2010 but to introduce the scheme from January 2010. From September 2010, the pre-school year will run from September of each year in line with the school year.

All children aged between three years three months and four years six months at 1 September each year will be eligible and parents who wish to avail of the scheme can enrol their children with the available participating service of their choice. Children entering the scheme in January 2010 will be eligible if they are aged between three years and seven months and four years and ten months at 1 January 2010. Parents should have regard to the enrolment policies of their local primary schools in making decisions regarding the age that their children should avail of the pre-school year.

The introduction of this free pre-school year is an example of how a programme can be re-shaped and made more effective at a lower cost to the taxpayer.

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