Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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36. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs further to a Topical Issue debate (details supplied) on 12 November 2015, for an update on his efforts to provide equal access to pre-school for all children, including children with a disability or disabilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42502/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme provides for free pre-school education for children before they commence primary school.

I have been conscious for some time of the difficulty experienced by some children with a disability in accessing and benefiting fully from this Programme. With this in mind, I requested that an Inter-Departmental Group, led by my Department be established, with a brief to bring forward recommendations to address this issue.

I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the Group concluded its work and the recommendations of this Group were fully accepted and funded by Government. I announced, as part of Budget 2016, the necessary funding to implement the new model of supports for children with a disability with costs for these supports estimated to be €15m in 2016 and with full year costs estimated to be €33m from 2017 onwards.

I believe that this Group has identified a practical, workable model for meeting the needs of children with a disability and the allocation of funding is clear evidence of the Government's commitment to supporting such children.

Moving forward from funding to implementation, I am very pleased to say that, on 18 November last, the model of supports was launched by myself, together with my Government colleagues, Jan O’Sullivan, TD, Minister for Education and Skills and Kathleen Lynch, TD, Minister of State at the Department of Health.

When established, the new model will focus on the developmental level of children with disabilities, their functional ability and their needs. It will not focus on diagnosis, recognising that many children may not have a formal diagnosis at the time of presenting to pre-school.

The model, when fully operational, will deliver seven levels of support to enable the full inclusion and meaningful participation of children with disabilities in the ECCE Programme. These supports, which move from universal to highly targeted supports based on the needs of the child, include: enhanced continuing professional development for early years practitioners; grants for equipment, appliances and minor alterations, increased capitation for certain children with very complex needs, as well as access to therapeutic intervention.

The new model will take some time to be fully established as capacity needs to be built in the early years sector, but the planned front-loading and on-going investment will result in all children with a disability having their pre-school needs met. The implementation of all seven levels of supports is the next step in the process and in that regard, two groups have been established to oversee and implement the new model.

The first group, the Cross Sectoral Implementation Group, will oversee and monitor implementation, while the second group, the Project Group, will implement the model for roll-out by September 2016, recognising that some elements will take somewhat longer to fully implement as capacity needs to be built into the system.

In the meantime, the Deputy should be aware that currently the ECCE Programme makes special provision for children with a disability to access the ECCE programme. Measures include an exemption from the upper age limit for qualification where a child is developmentally delayed and 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 and this will continue to be an option for parents.