Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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442. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the latest figures held by his Department, by local authority, on the number of special needs assistants who are available to children with special education needs and who are partaking in the early child care and education programme and the community childcare subvention programme, in the latest year available. [30286/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The majority of children with special needs are able to access the free pre-school year, provided under the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, in mainstream childcare services, without the provision of any additional supports. In the region of 65,000, including children with special needs, avail of the free pre-school provision each year.

There are a number of measures currently in place in my Department to ensure that the free pre-school year is more accessible to children with special needs. These include an exemption from the upper age limit where a child would benefit from starting primary school at a later age. In addition, children with special needs can apply to have the pre-school year split over two years on a pro-rata basis, for example availing of the programme for 2 days a week in the first year and for 3 days a week in the second year.

On the specific issue of children with special needs that require additional supports to enable them to access pre-schools, the Department of Health has informed my Department that, while the Health Service Executive has no statutory obligation to provide assistant supports for these children, it does work at local level and in partnership with the relevant disability service providers to address individual needs as they arise. This is done, for example, by funding special pre-schools that cater specifically for children with disabilities. In some limited cases at a local level, disability services have also facilitated children with disabilities to attend mainstream pre-schools by providing assistant supports where possible and subject to resources. My Department does not collate figures in relation to HSE's provision of such pre-school assistant supports. The provision of these pre-school assistant supports should not be confused with Special Needs Assistants who are funded by the Department of Education and Skills to support children with special educational needs in primary and post-primary school settings.

This Government recognises that co-ordination and provision of appropriate supports for pre-school children with special needs could be improved. Accordingly, when I established the Inter-Departmental Group on Future Investment in Early Years and School Age Care and Education, I included in its terms of reference the need to examine how best to provide for children with special needs within mainstream pre-school settings.

To advance this, the Departments of Children and Youth Affairs, Education and Skills, and Health have agreed to work together to develop a new model of supports for pre-school children with special needs. My Department is leading the process, with full and active support from the other two Departments and their respective agencies.

A group comprising representatives from these three Departments, the HSE, Tusla, the National Council for Special Education, the National Disability Authority, Better Start and the Dublin City Childcare Committee has started its work. This Group aims to have an agreed model by early September, with a view to making a cross-departmentally supported proposal for the resources required in time for the Estimates process.