Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is really important that the Deputy raised that question. A similar question was raised earlier but I will say again, as it is important to place it on the record, that I am pleased to confirm that all the supports currently available through the HSE and various agencies will remain in place until the new model is fully operational. As the Deputy may be aware, the access and inclusion model is a cross-Government initiative led by my Department and involves the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Skills and others. It will deliver seven levels of progressive support moving from the universal to the targeted, which I outlined a little earlier when I was answering another question, to enable the full inclusion and meaningful participation of children with disabilities in the ECCE programme.

Work is well advanced across all elements of the model with a view to introducing this initiative later this month. As I have already stated, it will be introduced in phases and current supports will not be withdrawn until that is fully implemented.

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