Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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458. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will address a matter regarding an additional preschool year for a child (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51619/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Overage exemptions were introduced at the onset of the ECCE programme, at that time only operated for a 38 week period, or one programme year. For some children with special/additional needs, attending preschool five days a week was not feasible and so therefore an allowance was made. Their ECCE place was split over 2 years, e.g. a child may have availed of 3 days ECCE provision in year one and 2 days in year 2. In order to facilitate this, in the cases where the child would have been overage for ECCE in the latter year, an overage exemption was approved. This provision of an overage exemption by the DCYA for the ECCE programme was never intended as a mechanism to delay a child’s entry to primary education.

Given the extension of the ECCE programme in 2016/2017, the further extension of the Programme to two full years from September 2018, and the introduction of AIM in June 2016, it is clear that the initial premise for provision of an overage exemption from the upper age limit for the ECCE programme is no longer valid.

AIM is a model of supports designed to ensure that children with disabilities can access the early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. The AIM Early Years Specialists will work with the parents (and guardians), providers, Special Education Needs Organisers (SENOs) and others (as appropriate) to support the child’s transition to primary school. On this basis, no applications for overage exemptions will be accepted for the ECCE programme from the 2018/2019 Programme Year. Any concerns with regard to a child's transition to primary school should be referred to the Better Start Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) application process.

Parents, guardians and providers are advised to engage with the AIM process where a concern in relations to a child's transition to primary school is identified. More detailed information on AIM can be found at www.preschoolaccess.ie.

The Department of Education and Skill (DES) also provides for the education of children with special educational needs through a number of support mechanisms, depending on the child's assessed disability.