Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Question 33: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if his Department is working with charities or bodies to develop or open new early education centres like the one recently opened in Knocknaheeny, County Cork; the location where and when these additional early education centres are planned to be built; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7909/09]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department's main interventions in Early Years have been targeted towards children who experience disadvantage or who have special needs. The intervention programmes in place for pre-school children include Early Start, pre-schools for Travellers, the Rutland St project and an early intervention programme for children with autism.

Government Investment in Early Years education is instead taking place through the National Childcare Investment Programme (NCIP) 2006-2010 which is the successor programme to the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006. This programme is administered by the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. The NCIP aims to deliver a further 10,000 pre-school places by 2010. Under the social inclusion measure of the NCIP, priority for funding for childcare facilities is given to applications with the highest focus on disadvantage. This can be demonstrated by reference to the socio-demographic profile of the area, the parent profile of the service, and admissions and fees policies. Groups applying for funding are also asked to state their policies on meeting the needs of children with special needs, lone parents, immigrant families, and other groups at risk of social exclusion. Childcare facilities which demonstrate that they will support pre-school services for schools designated as disadvantaged under DEIS are prioritised. Similarly, pre-school services involved in the integration of Traveller children are also prioritised. Being located in a region covered by the RAPID, CLAR or DEIS programmes is also a factor in assessing and prioritising a community capital project in terms of its impact on social inclusion.

My Department's role is to improve the quality of educational provision in childcare settings. This is a key tenet set out in the White Paper 'Ready to Learn'. The quality improvement initiatives include:

1. The publication and commencement of revised Preschool Regulations (Department of Health and Children, 2006)

2. The development of Síolta, the national quality framework for early childhood education (Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education) — a comprehensive set of practice guidelines for all settings where children aged birth to six years are present.

3. The development of a framework for Early Learning (National Council for Curriculum and Assessment) — designed to bring greater coherence to early educational experiences in all ECEC settings.

4. The commencement of a national longitudinal research programme 'Growing up in Ireland' — designed to provide greater insight into the lives of children in Ireland with a view to improving effectiveness of policymaking and service provision.

5. Development of a National Childcare Training Strategy — designed to create an infrastructure that will encourage and support the development of a suitably qualified ECEC workforce.

While the early education centre in Knockaheeny was established by Barnardos, with their partners the Bon Secours Foundation, the Centre is receiving funding through the Community Childcare Subvention Scheme (CCSS) under the NCIP. The CCSS scheme has a strong focus on disadvantage. My Department will not be setting up a separate infrastructure for Early Years centres but will continue to work within the existing infrastructure on quality improvement measures.