Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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693. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide figures held by his Department, by county, on the number of children with special education needs who are partaking in the early child care and education programme and the community childcare subvention programme since the roll out of these scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30662/15]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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694. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he is satisfied that existing mechanisms in place enabling children with special needs to access early childhood care and education schemes and the community childcare subvention programme are parent-friendly and fit for purpose; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30663/15]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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695. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs his views that a serious anomaly exists within the early childhood care and education scheme, whereby the Departments of Children and Youth Affairs and Education and Skills and the Health Service Executive are failing children with special needs where they reach the cut-off age while within the scheme and are then forced to seek an exemption to complete the scheme; and his views that these organisations need to urgently address this situation. [30664/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 693 to 695, inclusive, together.

My Department does not collate figures in relation to the number of children with special needs who avail of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme or the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme. However, current figures indicate that approximately 95% of eligible children participate in the ECCE programme every year.

My Department is committed to ensuring that all children have the opportunity to access and benefit from this free preschool year and has, in addition to the HSE, made various practical efforts in recent years to support mainstreamed provision for children with special needs. These include: more flexible rules regarding access to the free preschool year, the provision on a limited ad hoc basis by the HSE of funding towards the cost of preschool support assistants in some areas, elective modules on special needs in mandatory courses for early years practitioners, and various initiatives by City and County Childcare Committees, HSE/HSE funded services, and by Better Start’s Early Years Specialist Service to support providers who need expert advice and guidance. In addition, the on-going reorganisation of disability therapy services into multidisciplinary geographic-based teams by the HSE under the Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People Programme and the early intervention and support that reconfigured teams provide is of importance in the context of mainstreaming.

Nevertheless, this Government recognises that co-ordination and provision of appropriate supports for preschool 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 preschool settings.

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

An Inter-Departmental 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 completed its work and is expected to make a cross-departmentally supported proposal for the resources required in time for the Estimates process.