Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 124: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of free school places being made available under the free pre-school year in early childhood care and education scheme in county Meath; if she will provide a breakdown of the numbers by town in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8384/10]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I have responsibility for the free Preschool Year in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) scheme which was introduced in January of this year. Approximately 4,000 preschool services throughout the country are participating in the ECCE scheme. Each service participating in the scheme was required to send an electronic return to my Office in January giving details of children enrolled. These returns are currently being processed and full details of the number of children availing of the scheme will be available shortly. The information which is being collected will be broken down by reference to the 33 areas covered by the City and County Childcare Committees (CCCs). However, a full list of participating services within each CCC area will also be available. Based on the information processed to date I am advised that over 51,000 children have enrolled for a free preschool year place and that approximately 2,400 of these are enrolled in County Meath.