Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 109: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of pre-school places currently funded by her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34211/06]

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 137: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of children currently receiving a pre-school education which is funded by her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34213/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 109 and 137 together.

Early Years Education in Ireland covers the period from birth to six years. Almost all five year olds and half of four year olds attend junior infant and senior infant classes in primary schools. Outside of junior classes in primary schools, my Department's main role in the area of early years education encompasses targeted pre-school provision for children from disadvantaged areas, for traveller children and for those with special needs. The Early Start pre-school project provides some 1,680 places in 40 primary schools in designated areas of urban disadvantage in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Galway, Drogheda and Dundalk. My Department also funds 46 pre-schools for Traveller children, catering for some 500 pupils.

In the special needs sector, there are currently 16 pre-school classes for children with autism located throughout the country. In addition to this, 12 stand-alone autism facilities that provide an applied behavioural analysis (ABA) model of response to children with autism cater for a number of children of pre-school age. My Department sanctions home tuition grants for children with autism who are of pre-school age and for whom a home educational programme is considered appropriate – grants for some 200 such children are currently in payment. In a small number of cases, my Department allocates funding to service providers to assist them in providing an educational component to pre-school age children in Child Educational Development Centres (CEDCs).

Targeted early childhood education provision is a key element of the School Support Programme (SSP) under the new action plan for educational inclusion DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools), which provides for a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage. The objective in relation to early childhood education is to concentrate actions initially on those children aged from three up to school enrolment, who will subsequently attend the 190 urban/town primary schools serving the most disadvantaged communities. My Department will work in partnership with other Departments and agencies to complement and add value to existing childcare programmes in disadvantaged communities, with a view to ensuring that the overall care and education needs of the children concerned are met in an integrated manner. A strong emphasis will be placed on adding value to the work of other providers by embedding quality early learning within childcare provision. The Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education will provide advice on the future development and direction of pre-school measures for children in disadvantaged communities.