Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As I said, centres will be closing their doors in three weeks and yet there is an information vacuum in terms of what is going to happen next. I welcome the Minister's confirmation on current supports. In County Meath, 100 children and their parents will be seeking supports from preschool services come September. Even though the €3,000 per annum for providers of special needs assistant, SNA, support is inadequate, at least it is a defined budget in County Meath. In the neighbouring county of Louth, there is no defined budget for children with additional needs. Until now, the free preschool has not been free for all. Some parents of children with additional needs have had to assist providers to pay for SNA support, with parents in some counties required to pay the entire amount.

I welcome the Minister's confirmation about the supports currently available, but given we are only three months away from implementation of this initiative and there is a huge vacuum in terms of information about it, I am concerned whether the necessary level of trained staff across the 4,000 providers will be in place in time.

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