Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 183: To ask the Minister for Health and Children her views on extending early childhood cover to children who are now underage but have committed to enroll in primary school in September 2011 by which time they will be four years of age and who will therefore miss out on the pre-school year. [13578/10]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I have responsibility for implementation of the free Pre-School Year in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) scheme which was introduced in January of this year.

The objective of the scheme is to make early learning in a formal setting available to all children in the key developmental year before they commence primary school, with appropriate age related activities and programmes being provided within a particular age cohort. Targeting the pre-school year at a particular age cohort is, therefore, fundamental to the scheme and for this reason minimum and maximum limits to the age range within which children participate in the scheme, have been set. While the majority of children commence school between the age of 4 years 6 months and 5 years 6 months, an age range of almost 17 months has been set for the scheme to maximise flexibility. As a result, the scheme is open to children who are aged more than 3 years and two months and less than 4 years 7 months at 1 September each year. A child who will be too young to avail of the scheme in September 2010 will qualify for the scheme in September 2011.