Results 1-7 of 7 for troy segment:5892554
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (27 Mar 2014)
Frances Fitzgerald: This is an important area. I will come back to Deputy Troy with those figures. Part and parcel of moving to improve preschool services is to have a focus on early years. I have begun this by setting up the task force on early years and commissioning the report Right from the Start, which examines some of these issues and makes recommendations. I agree with Deputy Troy that this area...
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (27 Mar 2014)
Robert Troy: I agree with the Minister, but it is on an ad hoc basis.
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (27 Mar 2014)
Robert Troy: In the previous question the Minister alluded to the fact that she was keen to see the free preschool year rolled out to a second year. Given the relatively low number of children with special educational needs who availed of the preschool year split over two years - I understand the figures were 261 in 2012 and 232 in 2013 - will the Minister consider the possibility of introducing a full...
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (27 Mar 2014)
Robert Troy: 4. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs in view of the comparatively low numbers of children accessing the second free preschool year - the figures come to 261 and 232 children for September 2012 to June 2013 and September 2013 to June 2014 respectively - if she will amend the criteria for children with special educational needs to entitle them to two full years of free...
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (27 Mar 2014)
Frances Fitzgerald: I thank Deputy Troy for the question. Fully 68,000 children are availing of the free preschool year in the academic year 2012-13 at a cost of €175 million. As Deputy Troy is aware, there are several additional provisions to take account of children with special needs. These include an exemption from the upper age limit for qualification under the programme where a child is...
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (27 Mar 2014)
Robert Troy: I appreciate that and I thank the Minister. The Minister has hit the nail on the head: early intervention is critical, especially for a child with special educational needs. Longer interventions are critical as well. This is why I am saying that at a time of tight resources we should be looking at introducing a second preschool year for these children. We should get in early and provide...
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (27 Mar 2014)
Robert Troy: I do not expect the Minister to have the information I am seeking today. However, will the Minister come back to me and identify exactly the number of children with special educational needs who are availing of the free preschool year? The Minister said these numbers only reflected the people who take out exemptions. What is happening at the moment is rather ad hoc in nature. The HSE is...