Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 792: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her plans to publish a new strategic plan for the early childhood care and education sector to follow on from the national children's strategy 2000 - 2010; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1015/12]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The 2000 National Children's Strategy has served the country well in the past decade. The successor to the 2000 Strategy which will be developed during 2012 will for the first time include a particular focus on the early years of a child's life. This focus is based on the recognition of the importance of the early years for all aspects of a person's development and also on the widely accepted tenet that the family and the community within which the child lives has an impact on the child's life. This perspective has already been expressed in strategies such as Ready, Steady, Play and the 2011 Literacy and Numeracy Strategy published by my colleague, Minister Ruairí Quinn in the Department of Education and Skills.