Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and acknowledge that the ECCE scheme has been extended to the two years. I also acknowledge that she has brought it back to one entry point. There had been much confusion about that. Going back to the entry point, children that are two years and eight months old on 1 September cannot enter into the two year ECCE scheme. That is where the problem is. Can the Department look at this in another way so that two years before a child starts school, he or she would be allowed to enter into the ECCE scheme? I know what I am saying is simplistic but age has been a barrier here and it has been so prescriptive that the childcare providers themselves have to know exactly who they will get funding from. I can see it completely from their point of view. Parents might choose to let their children be that little bit older or younger and, as the Minister said, children born in January are particularly caught. Is there any way the Minister can work with the Department? She did it already, which I have to acknowledge, with the upper age limit. She has already overcome that obstacle. Is there enough time between now and September to make it non-prescriptive, so that children can get their two years?

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