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

I thank the Deputy. The award-winning access and inclusion model, AIM, has supported more than 27,000 children with a disability to access and meaningfully participate in the ECCE programme since it was first introduced in September 2016. A commitment to expand AIM beyond the ECCE programme was first made in the First 5 strategy. The fulfilment of this commitment was to be informed by an independent evaluation of AIM. That evaluation is now complete and it will be published before the end of this year.

Participants in that evaluation - parents, educators and providers - unanimously supported an extension of targeted AIM supports to hours outside the ECCE programme. Earlier this year, I set out an ambition to start this expansion of AIM, and in budget 2024, I was very pleased to secure an additional €14 million for AIM. Some €7 million of this allocation will support the increasing cohort of children with a disability requiring AIM supports to access and meaningfully participate in the ECCE programme. An additional €7 million provides for an expansion of targeted AIM supports to these children beyond time spent in the ECCE programme, in term and out of term, from next September. The full-year cost of this development will be €21 million.

The specific rules underpinning this extension are currently being developed. However, the intent of the additional funding is to support ECCE-enrolled children with a disability to remain in services for the full day if they wish to do so. The precise allocation model for this expansion of AIM is under design, and that will be communicated in early 2024.

It is my ambition that, over time, all children with a disability enrolled in early learning and childcare services will have access to supports under AIM. To this end, my officials will next consider how younger children with a disability not yet eligible for the ECCE programme can also be supported through AIM.

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