Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I am taking this debate on behalf of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. I am pleased to outline the Government's position on recent measures introduced in budget 2016.

Budget 2016 implemented a key recommendation of both the expert advisory group on the early years strategy and of the interdepartmental group on future investment in child care, by providing for an entitlement to free preschool for all children, from age three until they start school, and by funding a new model of support to ensure children with disabilities can participate in free preschool alongside their peers. The value of these measures is underpinned by the findings of extensive consultation during the course of the interdepartmental group's work. These were key priorities for parents, preschool providers and experts on the early years.

The expansion of the free preschool programme, which will take effect from September 2016, means that the number of children benefitting from the free preschool provision is expected to rise from around 67,000 to 127,000 in a given year. The decision to implement this new entitlement from September 2016 was made to allow the early years sector time to build capacity and adjust to the new parameters of the programme. Accommodating change can be challenging, but as demand is not expected to peak until January and April 2017, this should provide the necessary time to make any infrastructural and-or service changes, and to put in place additional staff to meet the increased demand.

A number of factors indicate that the additional required capacity in the preschool sector will be realised. The annual survey of early years' services, conducted in December 2014, estimated that there were more than 24,000 vacancies in early years services across the country and that almost 13,000 of these vacancies were in sessional services. It is also the case that a significant number of services apply to be providers of the free preschool programme every year. This increased demand for and additional investment in free preschool is likely to encourage a greater number of applicants.

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