Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, for taking this debate. The issue of appropriate supports for children with disability in the preschool year appears to fall between the remit of a number of Departments. The Department of Education and Skills is responsible for children with a disability attending mainstream schools. I refer to a very welcome initiative in recent years which is the provision of special needs assistants. I have been pursuing this issue as have other Deputies, including my constituency colleagues, on foot of representations made to us about individual cases. I refer to last week's debate on a Private Members' motion tabled by Deputy Troy. While there is some momentum to address the issue, it still seems that no particular Department is willing to take ownership of it.

To put the problem in context I refer to a letter I received from the HSE on foot of representations I made about an individual case. The HSE letter in reply reads: "There is no obligation for a service under the ECCE grant to take a child with special needs if they cannot provide supports." In other words, they can simply refuse to take a child and that child will sit at home instead. The Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, will be aware that this issue is a long time on the agenda. In the 1996 report to the Government by the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities, it was stated on the issue of preschools that it should be the responsibility of the Department of Education to provide high quality appropriate preschool services to the children with disabilities. The Minister of State might well reply that she was not in office on that occasion and she may wash her hands of that report but the National Disability Strategy Implementation Plan 2013-2015 states as an aspiration to improve supports for children with disabilities in the preschool year. It stated that the outcome desired is to improve school readiness and learning for children with disabilities and that one of the key indicators will be to have more than 50% of children in preschool year in receipt of appropriate supports. The flip side is that almost 50% of children with disabilities are not receiving the appropriate supports and I suspect that a substantial minority of those children who are not getting the appropriate supports are unable to avail of the preschool year and consequently start at a disadvantage in their formal education in the primary school system, behind their peers by virtue of a learning or a physical disability.

I take my hat off to many of the community providers of early childhood education who through their own resources are providing funds for special needs assistants or other supports needed for these children. The system is too ad hoc. One child who cannot avail of the preschool year is one too many, but regrettably there are many children. I cannot quantify the number but perhaps the Minister of State can do so.

I welcome the cross-departmental endeavour under way but I remain to be convinced that somebody is taking ownership of the issue, even if not to the extent outlined in the National Disability Strategy Implementation Plan 2013-2015,which has a timeline to have this issue addressed by September 2016. It is feasible to have this issue addressed if there is a willingness to so do, by September 2014, in order that children with disabilities would be on the same footing as any other child and available to take up a place in early childhood education.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I thank Deputy Creed for raising this matter. It is very obvious from his contribution that he has taken a considerable interest in this matter, which I appreciate. Notwithstanding the financial pressures on the health system, I assure the Deputy that the Government is fully committed to the ongoing delivery of vital services and supports to children with disabilities to the greatest extent possible within available resources.

The free preschool year is provided through the early childhood care and education programme, ECCE, which is the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. I note this is another Department which has entered the fray. The objective of this scheme is to make early learning in a formal setting available to eligible children in the year before they commence primary school. I understand that certain flexibilities are built into the scheme in an effort to accommodate children with special needs, such as an over age exemption or waiver for children with special needs who do not meet the age criteria, as well as the option to split the free preschool year over two years.

While the HSE has no statutory obligation to provide supports for children with special needs wishing to avail of the free preschool year, it works at local level and in partnership with the relevant disability service providers to address individual needs as these arise. This is done in a number of ways such as providing grant aid to support preschool provision in community preschools and by funding special preschools catering specifically for children with disabilities. In some cases at local level disability services have also facilitated children with disabilities to attend mainstream preschools by providing assistant supports where possible.

As the Deputy suggested, the HSE national programme for progressing disability services for children and young people from birth to 18 years aims to achieve a national, unified approach to delivering disability health services. This programme, when implemented, should mean greater equity in accessing services based on need, clearer referral pathways to these services and improved collaboration between the sectors. An additional €4 million has been specifically allocated in 2014 to drive implementation of the programme. This equates to approximately 80 therapy posts. The HSE's role in supporting children with disabilities involves working in close co-operation with the disability service providers it funds, the education sector, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the parents and families of the children in question.

There is a need to strengthen these arrangements, however, and a dedicated cross-sectoral team, comprising representatives of my Department, the HSE, the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, plays a key role in fostering greater collaboration on children's disability issues and building on the existing cross-sectoral working arrangements. A subgroup of this cross-sectoral team has been set up to examine the issues around the integration of children with disabilities into mainstream preschool settings, building on previous analysis in this area. Representatives of the Departments of Health, Children and Youth Affairs, and Education and Skills, the Health Service Executive and the city and county child care committees are members of this group which is chaired by the Department of Health. The issue of supports for children with disabilities in mainstream preschool settings is being examined by the subgroup.

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for her response, which included a great deal of information. I acknowledge that this issue is cross-departmental in nature, coming also under the remit of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. The Minister of State referred to additional funding of €4 million that has been allocated in 2014 specifically to drive implementation of the programme on progressing disability services for children and young people. This allocation amounts to the provision of 80 additional therapist posts. My understanding, however, is that this will not facilitate a single child in accessing the early childhood care and education programme.

The issue I am raising here is not about assessment of needs. I am referring to a situation where a child who has a specific disability, be it a physical disability or a learning disability, is refused a place by a local child care provider on the basis of that disability. My understanding is that these service providers are paid on a per capita basis. Perhaps the cross-departmental group might consider an arrangement whereby a portion of funding would be held in reserve to accommodate whatever additional resources are required by individual service providers to provide, for example, a special needs assistant for one child or a wheelchair for another. In each individual case, the funding held in reserve could be used to facilitate that child's access. The provision of funding for 80 therapist posts is not the issue. It is about ensuring that when parents approach a local service provider, the latter cannot turn their child away because he or she has a disability. That position would not be countenanced at primary school and it should not be countenanced at preschool. If we are serious about addressing these types of issues, there must be a much faster implementation of the objectives outlined in the national disability strategy for 2016. This particular issue should be resolved by next September.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Where a place is denied to a child with a disability, the reason usually given is that he or she is not ready for that level of education. This is where the new therapy posts will come in. The reconfiguration I have described is essential and the allocation of €4 million was very hard won. It is not about a diagnosis; it is about providing the interventions that are necessary at a very young age, whether speech and language therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy or something else, to ensure children gain the very most from a preschool place.

In terms of when this will be achieved, the 2016 timeline is essentially a safety net. In 2014, Kerry, Mayo, Galway, north Lee in Cork, Wexford, Kildare and west Wicklow will fully reconfigure their services in line with the new model. Having said that, I very much take on board what the Deputy is saying. There are some providers who simply do not want to take on children who require additional care. The whole idea behind the appointment of additional therapists is to ensure children will be ready to avail of the preschool provision that is available.