Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The measures which are being introduced to implement the decisions announced in the recent Budget have, as we know, been driven by the need to achieve a very significant level of Exchequer savings in this year and over the course of several years to come. In this context, it is particularly welcome that the need to achieve real savings in Government expenditure is being accompanied by the most important policy development for pre-school children in the history of the State, the introduction of a free pre-school year in early years care and education.

As a result, the cessation of the early child care supplement payment to parents of pre-school children from the end of this year will be followed immediately, from January 2010, by the introduction of the new scheme in early years care and education for children in their pre-school year. This is a development which is to be much welcomed and the response which I have had from the sector over the past two weeks has very strongly endorsed this view.

When the early child care supplement was introduced in April 2006, it was criticised in many quarters because it directed resources away from more beneficial investment in early years care and education, in particular, in the form of pre-school education. Many experts in early years care and education, including bodies such as NESF, the National Women's Council of Ireland and the OECD, argued at the time and since that the funding directed into the supplement as a direct universal payment to parents, was more than twice what would have been needed to implement a free pre-school care and education year targeted at pre-school children.

The recent National Competitiveness Council report noted that "pre-primary education is a key determinant of student performance at all levels of education as it leads to improvements in students' skills levels, motivation and the propensity to learn, which in turn raises the private and social returns from all future investments in their education". These views are also supported by the commitment in the programme for Government to ensure that every child has access to a preschool place by 2012. In re-evaluating the allocation of resources to the early child care supplement, ECS, the opportunity has been taken to establish a new child-centred approach to early years policy and provision and to reinvest an estimated €170 million of the savings made into the preschool year from January 2010.

The preschool year will be implemented by my office and all voluntary and private preschool services which meet the requirements of the scheme will be invited to apply for entry by the end of next month. The preschool year will run from September of each year, in line with the school year. However, rather than delay the introduction of the scheme to September 2010, which would deny the benefit of the measure to children who are due to start primary school at that time, the preschool year will be introduced from January 2010, immediately after cessation of the ECS payments.

An annual capitation grant of over €2,400 will be payable to preschool services participating in the scheme over a full year. Parents who avail of the preschool year in a playschool will be entitled to a provision of five weekly sessions of three hours per day for 38 weeks per annum. This amounts to a weekly capitation grant of €64.50. Parents who avail of the preschool year in a full or part-time child care service will be entitled to 50 weeks of free preschool provision of five weekly sessions of two hours and 15 minutes per day. This amounts to a weekly capitation grant of €48.50. The service must reduce the weekly child care fee for parents by this amount.

All children aged between three years and three months and four years and six months immediately prior to the start of each preschool year, that is on 1 September, will be eligible. For the preschool year commencing in January 2010, children will be eligible if they are aged between three years and seven months and four years and ten months at 1 January of that year. This is only for the first year of operation of the scheme.

The preschool year will be guided by the principles of Síolta, the early years care and education framework which the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs is implementing. This will support the provision of a high quality environment for children in this important year. Services participating in the scheme will be supported by Síolta co-ordinators who will work with my office and the city and county child care committees. The introduction of the preschool year in early childhood care and education is an historic step in the development of Ireland's early childhood care policy and, that this step is being taken at this time of economic crisis and budgetary constraint, makes it all the more remarkable and demonstrates the recognition which is being given to the importance of investing in our children's futures.

The early child care supplement was introduced under Part 4A of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, as inserted by section 28 of the Social Welfare Law Reform and Pensions Act 2006. Section 8 of the Social Welfare Bill 2009, which amends Part 4A of the 2005 Act, provides for the reduction of the early child care supplement to half-rate, that is €41.50 per month, with effect from 1 May 2009. As the supplement is paid monthly in arrears, this means that the first payment to be affected by the change will be the June payment. Section 8 also provides for the abolition of the payment from the end of this year. Section 8(2) of the Bill provides that Part 4A of the 2005 Act shall cease to have effect on 1 January 2010. However, as the supplement is paid in arrears, and as the provision in Part 4A of the 2005 Act refers to the period in which a person qualifies for the payment, the appropriate date on which to terminate the supplement is 1 December 2009. This will result in the termination of payments under the scheme with effect from 1 January 2010.

As the Bill as initiated incorrectly provides for termination from 1 January 2010, I wish to advise the House that a technical amendment to amend that date to 1 December 2009 will be introduced on Committee Stage. It was the Government's decision that payments of early child care supplement would cease in 2009, to be replaced by the free preschool year from January 2010. This amendment will give effect to the Government's decision and provide that the final payment of the supplement will be made to parents in December 2009.

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