Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I readily accept that funding is not available as simply as that and I am willing to acknowledge it. If the prospects of extending the free preschool year to a second year are impeded by budgetary constraints, as the Minister states, and I would argue that such is penny wise and pound foolish because there is never bad time to invest in preschool care for children as the return will unquestionably justify all the investment made, will the Minister at least give some commitment to extend the current single year scheme to 48 weeks as proposed by Early Childhood Ireland in its recently launched pre-budget 2015 submission? Early Childhood Ireland advocates for a system which allows for services to mirror the timeframe of primary schools operating for 38 weeks of the year and for staff to have contracts of employment covering an initial 48 weeks. This development, Early Childhood Ireland states, is essential to create viable careers in early childhood which is what we want to see, not part-time low-paid jobs. We want to see careers from childhood provision to retain qualified staff and to build on existing investment in training.

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