Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Question 207: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if he will consider extending the age range for eligibility for the early childhood care and education programme to address the anomaly whereby children born in July and August are missing out on the pre-school year on account of being ineligible for both primary school and the pre-school year but who then become eligible to start primary school the following September; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13939/11]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The free Pre-School Year in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, which was introduced in January 2010, is implemented by the Childcare Directorate in the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. Children qualify for the free pre-school year where they are aged more than 3 years 2 months and less than 4 years 7 months at 1 September in the relevant year. This means that children born between 2 February 2007 and 30 June 2008 qualify for the free pre-school year in September 2011. There is no provision under the programme to enrol children who are below the qualifying age and children born in July and August of 2008 will qualify for the programme in September 2012.

The ECCE programme is available to all eligible children and it is a matter for parents to decide if they wish their child to avail of the scheme or if they wish to send their child to primary school. The objective of the programme is to make early learning in a formal setting available to eligible children in the year before they commence primary school. To achieve this, services participating in the pre-school year are expected to provide age-appropriate activities and programmes to children within a particular age cohort. For this reason, it is appropriate to set minimum and maximum limits to the age range within which children will qualify.

A number of parents have asked for the lower age range to be reduced on the grounds that they wish to send their children to school when they are 4 years and 2 months of age or less. The issue was referred by some of these parents to the Office of the Ombudsman for Children. That Office found no reason to remove or amend the lower age range, accepting it as reasonable having regard to the various factors which apply.