Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 149: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she has received correspondence from persons involved in the ECCE scheme; the views expressed in this regard that the proposed operation of this scheme will be inoperable; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21378/09]

Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 150: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if, with regard to the proposed ECCE scheme, she agrees with persons working in the area who feel that fixing the fee at €64.50 per child per week is equivalent to price fixing in the industry and in that regard may be open to legal challenge; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21379/09]

Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 152: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will explain the way the fee of €64.50 was reached in relation to the ECCE scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21381/09]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 149, 150 and 152 together.

As the Deputy will be aware, I have responsibility for the implementation of the new scheme to provide a free Pre-School year of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) with effect from January 2010.

An annual capitation fee of over €2,400 will be paid to participating services in return for the provision of a free pre-school year to each child. The payment will be made in advance at the start of each term or quarter, as applicable. The scheme will be open to the almost 5,000 pre-school services operating in the State, including full and part-time daycare services as well as sessional playschool services. The capitation fee was set at a rate of €4.30 per hour which is considered sufficient to accommodate the majority of services. It is accepted that some services at the higher end of the market may not choose to enter the scheme, in much the same way as some fee paying primary schools are outside of the national school system, however, I expect the majority of services will enter the scheme.

Services can participate in the scheme on the basis of a number of options. A full or part-time daycare service will be required to provide a pre-school service for 2 hours 15 minutes per day, five days a week for 50 weeks (241 days) per year, in return for the capitation fee of €48.50 per week. A playschool sessional service, such as a Montessori, will be required to provide a pre-school service for 3 hours per day, five days a week for 38 weeks (183 days) per year, in return for a capitation fee of €64.50 per week. However, where for good reason a sessional service is unable to operate over 5 days, consideration will be given to allowing it to participate in the scheme on the basis of providing the pre-school year for 3 hours 30 minutes per day for 4 days per week. In such cases, a service will be required to provide the pre-school year over 41 weeks (157 days). Further flexibility is provided for in that, a full or part-time service may choose to provide a sessional service over 38 weeks of a year (or 2 sessional services each day) while a sessional service may choose to provide 2 hours 15 minutes per day over 50 weeks.

As a free pre-school year, participating services must agree to provide the service in return for the capitation grant. This does not preclude a service from charging for additional services provided these are clearly optional to parents. Optional services can include additional hours, over and above the free pre-school year requirement, and additional services in the form of various one-off, or on-going, activities or services such as outings, birthday parties, specific teaching resources such as dance or music or food. By their nature, full or part-time services will offer additional hours to the pre-school provision and sessional playschools can offer an additional 30 minutes per day. However, services must ensure that all such additional services are offered and charged for on an optional basis and are not compulsory. A parent's agreement cannot be a condition of initial or continued enrolment. It is also essential that appropriate programme based activities must be provided to children not participating in an optional activity where this takes place during the required period of pre-school provision.

The large majority of services contacting my Office since the announcement of the scheme have expressed their support for the scheme in strong terms. With regard to the question of price-fixing, I am satisfied that this does not arise, however it is open to individuals to seek legal advice should they consider this appropriate. I understand that a number of individuals have raised this issue with the Competition Authority but, to date, no grounds for action or concern have been identified.

Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 151: To ask the Minister for Health and Children her views on whether the ECCE scheme, in its attempt to extend the pre-school year by two weeks beyond that required by primary schools, is unacceptable for two reasons, namely as discrimination to require pre-school montessori teachers to work a longer school year than that which is required by national school teachers, at a reduced rate of pay, as well as the fact that under these proposals children of a very young age would then have a longer school year than they ought to have; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21380/09]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, I have responsibility for the implementation of the new scheme to provide a free Pre-School year of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) which was announced recently by the Minister for Finance.

The scheme, which is being introduced from January 2010, will be open to almost 5,000 private and voluntary pre-school services, including montessori schools. Services such as Montessori schools, which are likely to participate in the scheme as a sessional playschool service open for 38 weeks of the year, will be expected to operate for 183 days, the same number as that required for national primary schools.

Pre-school services in Ireland are provided in the private and voluntary sector and the terms and conditions of staff working in these services are a matter for their employer.

Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 153: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the qualifications that will be required of teachers and carers in the schools operating the new preschool child care scheme; the location at which a person (details supplied) can obtain the necessary qualifications and information on suitable courses; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21403/09]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware I have responsibility for the implementation of the new scheme to provide a free Pre-School year of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) which was announced recently by the Minister of Finance.

The ECCE is being introduced from January 2010 as a free scheme to benefit children in the key developmental period prior to commencing school. The scheme will allow eligible children to avail of a free pre-school place in the year before they commence school, generally either for 3 hours per day, 5 days per week over 38 weeks or for 2 hours 15 minutes per day, 5 days per week over 50 weeks. As the new scheme will be introduced from January next, the first full year will be from September 2010.

With the introduction of the pre-school year, the required qualifications are that the pre-school year Leader should hold a certification for a major award in childcare/early education at a minimum of level 5 on the National Framework of Qualifications of Ireland (NFQ) or an equivalent recognised qualification in the childcare/early education field. In recognition of the complex nature of educational attainment of staff within the early childhood care and education workforce in Ireland, during the first two full years of the scheme, where the pre-school year Leader has an award in early childhood care and education that includes significant content relating to early childhood education/early learning and child development and has at least two years experience of working in a position of responsibility with children in the 0-6 age range, this will be accepted as meeting the requirement.

For people who intend to make a career in this area, there are a number of options. The VECs are the major providers of accredited courses in childcare at NFQ level 5. By contacting the local VEC provider or by looking at their website, it should be possible to find a listing of accredited courses. The Institutes of Technology and some Universities also offer courses in childcare/early education and again, by contacting the IOTs or by looking at their websites, it will be possible to determine what courses are on offer. There are, as well, a number of courses offering Montessori qualifications but the most important factor in determining what course to do is that the course is recognised, accredited and will give the student an award that is on or aligned to the National Framework of Qualifications.