Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 170: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if exceptions are made regarding the qualifying ages for the early childhood care and education scheme; her plans to amend the scheme to allow every child to avail of it for one year and to ensure that no child loses out on availing of it; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26854/11]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme was introduced in January 2010 and provides a free pre-school year to all eligible children in the year before commencing primary school. Almost every pre-school service in the State is participating in the ECCE programme, ensuring that it is available to children in all areas, and 63,000 children, or 94% of the eligible age cohort, availed of the free pre-school year in 2010/2011. Figures for the academic year 2011/12 are currently being compiled.

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; children born in July and August of 2008 will qualify for the programme in September 2012.

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. It is a matter for parents to decide if they wish their child to avail of the programme or if they wish to send their child to primary school.

A number of parents have requested that the lower age range for eligibility for the ECCE programme 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 matter 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. However I have asked officials in my department to examine options for the further development of the ECCE programme and the matter of age will be looked at as part of this.