Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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10. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the status of the implementation of the access and inclusion model for children with additional needs entering the early childhood care and education scheme in September 2016; and if she will provide a commitment that the Health Service Executive will not withdraw any supports currently in place until the new seven level model is embedded in the early years sector. [14720/16]

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Does Deputy Cassells want 30 seconds to introduce this question?

Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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What is the status of the implementation of the access and inclusion model for children with additional needs entering the early childhood care and education, ECCE, scheme in September of this year? Will the Minister give a commitment that the HSE will not withdraw any supports currently in place until the new seven levels model is embedded in the early years sector?

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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It is really important that the Deputy raised that question. A similar question was raised earlier but I will say again, as it is important to place it on the record, that I am pleased to confirm that all the supports currently available through the HSE and various agencies will remain in place until the new model is fully operational. As the Deputy may be aware, the access and inclusion model is a cross-Government initiative led by my Department and involves the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Skills and others. It will deliver seven levels of progressive support moving from the universal to the targeted, which I outlined a little earlier when I was answering another question, to enable the full inclusion and meaningful participation of children with disabilities in the ECCE programme.

Work is well advanced across all elements of the model with a view to introducing this initiative later this month. As I have already stated, it will be introduced in phases and current supports will not be withdrawn until that is fully implemented.

Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for her response. The confirmation in respect of the supports is welcome but the core of the question refers to the status of the implementation. I tabled this question on supports for children with additional needs entering the free preschool year because there has been a massive information vacuum for both providers of these services and parents. Mums and dads anxious about the situation have been coming to or ringing me about the place in September for their child in Meath and elsewhere and whether the centres have the trained staff to take the child in September. In light of her response, will the Minister highlight how the Department expects to have the staff, some 4,000 in total, in these private early years centres fully trained so that they can provide the required support for children with additional needs? Does her Department expect every centre to have the trained staff in place in September? If not, can providers still avail of the additional two-year per child capitation funding which has been allocated to the centres, pitiful as it is, to provide children with additional needs access to the free preschool year?

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The point the Deputy identified in his question is critical in terms of the upskilling and continual professional development and education of practitioners and professionals in early childhood care and education in ensuring that when children with disabilities become part of their settings they know best how to ensure and enable the achievement of their potential.

It was also the case not that long ago in primary school training that not every teacher was necessarily provided with the type of education and skills base to be able to integrate into their classrooms children with particular types of learning disabilities or other forms of disabilities, and yet we have moved on to progress in the manner. This is what we want to achieve with this model. It is a critical aspect of that initiative as it is unfolding.

Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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As I said, centres will be closing their doors in three weeks and yet there is an information vacuum in terms of what is going to happen next. I welcome the Minister's confirmation on current supports. In County Meath, 100 children and their parents will be seeking supports from preschool services come September. Even though the €3,000 per annum for providers of special needs assistant, SNA, support is inadequate, at least it is a defined budget in County Meath. In the neighbouring county of Louth, there is no defined budget for children with additional needs. Until now, the free preschool has not been free for all. Some parents of children with additional needs have had to assist providers to pay for SNA support, with parents in some counties required to pay the entire amount.

I welcome the Minister's confirmation about the supports currently available, but given we are only three months away from implementation of this initiative and there is a huge vacuum in terms of information about it, I am concerned whether the necessary level of trained staff across the 4,000 providers will be in place in time.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The Deputy also mentioned the vacuum of information. I hear him and will indicate to the Department that such is the case. I give the Deputy my commitment to do something about that.

Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister.