Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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363. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if any exceptions may be made for a child (details supplied) in County Kildare whose parents wish to utilise the free pre-school year this year even though the child fall just outside the age limit; the options open to the child's parents; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21430/13]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The ECCE programme provides a free preschool year to all eligible children. Approximately 68,000 children are availing of the ECCE programme in the current school year. Children are eligible to avail of the free preschool year if they are aged more than 3 years and 2 months and less than 4 years and 7 months at 1 September in the relevant year. Children born between 2 February 2009 and 30 June 2010 will qualify for the free preschool year in September 2013 and children born between 2 February 2010 and 30 June 2011 will qualify for the programme in September 2014. As the child referred to by the Deputy was born in July 2010, he is below the age range for eligibility for the programme in the 2013-14 school year. If a child qualifies for the free preschool year and is also eligible to enrol in primary school, it is a matter for the parents to choose which option they wish the child to avail of. The objective of the ECCE 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 preschool 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. There is no provision under the programme to enrol children who are below the qualifying age.