James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme is a free and universal programme for all children in the eligible age cohort, including children with special needs. Approximately 65,000 children are availing of this programme in the current school year.

The issue of access to the free preschool year for children with special needs was considered when the ECCE programme was launched and a number of measures were introduced to make the programme more accessible for these children. The measures in place include an exemption from the upper age limit where a child would benefit from starting primary school at a later age. In addition, children with special needs can apply to have the preschool year split over two years on a pro ratabasis, for example, availing of the programme for two days a week in the first year and for three days a week in the second year.

Many children with special needs participate in the free preschool year without seeking these exemptions, so while there are 544 children with special needs availing of these exemptions for the current school year, the number of children with special needs availing of the ECCE programme would be far in excess of this. The Health Service Executive, HSE, works in partnership with the relevant disability service providers to address individual needs as they arise. This is done, for example, by funding special preschools that cater specifically for children with disabilities. In some limited cases at local level, disability services have also facilitated children with disabilities in some instances to attend mainstream preschools by providing assistant supports where possible and subject to resources.

The Government recognises that co-ordination and provision of appropriate supports for preschool children with special needs must be improved. Accordingly, when I established the interdepartmental group on future investment in early years and school age care and education I included in its terms of reference the need to examine how best to provide for children with special needs within the ECCE programme.

To advance this, the Departments of Children and Youth Affairs, Education and Skills and Health are working together to develop a new model of supports for preschool children with special needs. A group comprising representatives from these three Departments, the HSE, Tusla, the National Council for Special Education, the National Disability Authority, Better Start and the Dublin city childcare committee has started its work. This group aims to have an agreed model by early September, with a view to making a cross-departmentally supported proposal for the resources required in time for the Estimates process.

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