Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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45. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if support will be provided to an early years provider in Gortnahoe, County Tipperary, to facilitate a child with special educational needs (details supplied). [22363/20]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I am happy to confirm that the provider in question has over the past 3 years availed of a number of supports under the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM), which provides a range of supports to enable children with disabilities to access and participate fully in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme.

In addition, I understand that there has been correspondence between the provider and officials in my Department with regard to a request for capital funding. I understand that my Department has informed the provider that under Level 5 of AIM, funding is available to provide specialised equipment, appliances or capital grants towards minor building alterations, where these are necessary to support access and to facilitate a child’s participation in pre-school. Where an application for minor building alterations is approved, a capital grant towards the cost of these alterations may be awarded to the pre-school provider, limited to a value of €7,000 inclusive of VAT.

In addition to this small-scale capital funding, other supports available under AIM include:

- expert advice and support from Early Years Specialists,

- therapeutic supports provided through the HSE where these are critical to a child's participation in the ECCE programme, and

- additional capitation to fund extra assistance in the ECCE pre-school room.

If the provider wishes to find out more about the range of supports available under AIM, or requires any further assistance with an AIM application, I recommend they either speak to their Early Years Specialist in Better Start or contact the Tipperary Childcare Committee.