Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. Since 2016, my Department has funded the access and inclusion model to ensure that children with disabilities can access the early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme. Its goal is to empower preschool providers to deliver an inclusive preschool experience, ensuring that every eligible child can meaningfully participate in the ECCE programme and reap the benefits of high-quality early learning and care. AIM offers tailored and practical supports, some universal and others targeted, based on need and not requiring a formal diagnosis of disability. Close to 20,000 children with a disability have benefited from targeted supports under AIM since its introduction.

One of the commitments in First 5, the whole-of-government strategy for babies, young children and their families, was to undertake an evaluation of AIM and, subject to evaluation findings and other relevant developments, consider enhancements to or extensions of AIM, such as to all early learning and care services, to all school-age childcare services and to children with additional needs other than a disability.

The AIM evaluation commenced in 2021 and is now close to completion. The final report is due to be published in quarter 3 of this year. The findings of that evaluation will inform further development of AIM. This is a commitment in First 5.

In the meantime, I recently allocated additional funding to AIM to support children with disabilities to access the ECCE programme. Specifically, from September this year additional capitation provided through AIM to enable a lower adult-child ratio is expected to increase by 14% from September 2022, rising from €210 to €240 per week. This will benefit approximately 3,500 ECCE services throughout the country.

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