Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Early Start, as Senator Power will be aware, is effective but has not been developed over the years since it was set up by the former Minister, Ms Niamh Bhreatnach. It is something that we will incorporate into the work of the advisory group. I suppose the question is that, while there are a lot of different types of provision in the early years, obviously there is a lot of private provision, there is community provision and there is the more formal setting of the school in the Early Start programme, and the Early Start programme is valuable and good, particularly for that sector of children who benefit from it in the area of disadvantage, it is something at which the advisory group should look to see how we co-ordinate that experience across a wider sector and ensure that we develop what has been, as the Senator stated, a pilot for many years.