Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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127. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the steps being taken to guarantee the commitment to universal accessibility of the preschool year for all children, including those with disabilities; and the assurances provided to parents whose children will come of age before September 2015. [7772/15]

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I wish to ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the steps being taken to guarantee the commitment to the universal preschool year for all children, including those with disabilities, and the assurances provided to parents with children who will come of age before September 2015.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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With the indulgence of the Chamber, I will answer this question, which has been raised frequently today, because it is a very important issue and a very important area. We are talking about the early childhood care and education programme, which provides one preschool year to qualifying children before they commence primary school.

The ECCE programme is a free and universal programme to which all children, including those with special needs, have access.

Children are eligible to avail of the free pre-school year where they are aged more than three years and two months and less than four years and seven months at 1 September in the relevant year. Children born between 2 February 2011 and 30 June 2012 will qualify for the programme in September 2015.

The issue of access to the free pre-school year for children with special needs was taken into account when the free pre-school year was launched, and a number of measures were introduced to make the programme more accessible for these children. These measures include an exemption from the upper age limit for qualification under the programme where a child is developmentally delayed and would benefit from starting primary school at a later age. In addition, children with special needs can apply to have the pre-school year split over two years on a pro ratabasis, for example, availing of the programme for two days a week in the first year and for three days a week in the second year, if that would be in the child's best interest.

It is important to emphasise that most children with special needs avail of the free pre-school year in mainstream child care services. I am aware that the Health Service Executive does, where possible, assist children with special needs who may require additional support to enable them to avail of pre-school services in mainstream settings. However, the fact that these supports are not nationally consistent is a matter of concern to me.

My Department has been working with the Department of Health and the Department of Education and Skills to build better supports that will facilitate children who have special needs. The aim is to develop an agreed framework for the provision of resources to support children with special needs in mainstream child care settings.

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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The free pre-school year is supposed to be a universal benefit for all children but, as we know, many children with disabilities are prevented of availing of it due to the absence of necessary supports. In a previous answer, the Minister stated the support is not available nationally. The availability of SNAs to enable a child's attendance depends on where they live and ranges from none at all to only covering a proportion of the week.

Many parents are forced to hire SNAs, otherwise the child would be denied an opportunity to attend. This question deals with access to the free pre-school year, particularly for those with disabilities. What is in place is inadequate and there are serious difficulties. I ask the Minister and the interdepartmental group under his aegis, to consider seriously this matter in their work.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I assure the Deputy that it will be taken very seriously. It is one of the serious issues for the interdepartmental group to examine. As I stated earlier, we have all the key actors involved in this group: the Department of Social Protection; the Department of Education and Skills; the Department of Health, which is leading it; the Department of Finance; and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. It is critically important for all those Departments to be represented.

We need to ensure that the money allocated for child care is spent in the most effective way to achieve better outcomes for children. As other speakers have said, the money spent on this area yields the greatest return not just for the child but also for society generally.

The interdepartmental group will clarify and examine what we are trying to do, as well as finding the best way of achieving that. In addition, it will measure how those achievements are being met through current schemes and other Government expenditure. It will then come up with a list of options that are properly priced and analysed so that, if money becomes available, the Government can ensure it has the maximum impact when it makes its decision to put in extra funding, if that is the decision. As Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, I strongly feel we will find there is a need to look at how we have been spending money in this area and also to spend more on it.

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I ask the Minister to consider the proposal in Sinn Féin's budget 2015 document to address immediately the most significant inequity in existing public child care provisions, which is the exclusion of many children with disabilities from the free pre-school year. The sum of €12 million would provide 1,000 children with 15 hours of SNA support per week in order to attend the free pre-school year. This fund would supplement existing ad hocprovisions from the HSE and other disability service providers, which are grossly insufficient. I ask the Minister to consider that.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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As I have said on a number of occasions, there is no uniformity of support for special needs children across the country. This has been quantified and will be part of the work of the interdepartmental group. The Department of Education and Skills is working on this at the moment. Many children are in the ECCE programme but are not immediately identifiable as special-needs children from the point of view of the system; they are clearly identifiable by their parents, who can outline what their special needs are. The group will examine this and I believe we will get the result we need to be able to make the case very forcefully that additional investment is needed in the area. As the country's resources grow with the recovery of the economy, I would like to see this as a priority, as would many of my Government colleagues. However, we have to operate within budgetary constraints and the rules of our financial arrangements.