Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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618. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding the early childhood care and education scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37409/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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At present, children qualify for the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme when they are within the qualifying age range which is 3 years and 2 months to 4 years and 7 months in the September of the relevant year. This means, for example, that children born between 2 February 2011 and 30 June 2012 qualified for free pre-school from September 2015. The child in question was born in July 2012 and is below the age range for eligibility for the programme in the school year 2015/16 but will qualify in the school year 2015/16. There is currently no provision under the programme to enrol children who are below the qualifying age.

The recent Budget decisions, which introduced an expanded provision under the ECCE programme that allows children to access the free pre-school programme from the time they are 3 years of age until they start primary school, come into effect from September 2016. The start up date for the introduction of the new measures was decided so as to allow pre-school providers an adequate timeframe to make any necessary infrastructural or service changes and to put in place extra staff resources to accommodate the additional numbers benefiting from the programme.