Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 289: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if, in view of the exceptional circumstances, he will review the decision to exclude a facility (details supplied) from the early childhood care and education scheme; and if he will sanction funding under the four day week arrangement. [8180/10]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I have responsibility for the free Pre-School Year in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) scheme which was introduced in January of this year. This scheme provides for a free pre-school year for all eligible children prior to commencing primary school.

To provide for the flexible delivery of the new free pre-school provision, childcare services participating in the scheme can choose to provide the free pre-school year from a range of options. For example a full or part-time daycare service will normally provide the place for 2 hours 15 minutes a day, five days a week over 50 weeks. A playschool sessional service will normally be required to provide a pre-school service for 3 hours a day, five days a week over 38 weeks. However, where for good reason a sessional service is unable to operate over 5 days, it may participate in the scheme by providing a place for 3 hours 30 minutes a day, 4 days a week over 41 weeks.

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. Also in cases where children attend a full or part-time daycare service for 3 days a week only, consideration will be given to allowing the service to participate in the scheme on the basis of providing the pre-school year to those children for 3 hours 45 minutes a day for 3 days a week. In such cases, a service will be required to provide the pre-school year over 50 weeks.

I regret to advise the Deputy that the pre-school service in question could not be accepted into the ECCE scheme due to its rental agreement with the local community centre. The service was not in a position to meet the scheme's requirements to provide the pre-school year on the basis of either the 38 week model (5 days a week for 3 hours each day) or the alternative 41 week model (4 days a week for 3 hours 30 minutes each day).