Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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526. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the reason the ECCE programme 2020 will not run to coincide with the local school calendar (details supplied). [39622/20]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Early learning and care providers providing the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme are required to provide 38 weeks of ECCE over 44 calendar weeks. The 2020/21 ECCE programme year began on 24 August 2020 and will finish 44 weeks later on 25 June 2021. ECCE service providers can choose which 38 weeks out of the 44 week period to provide services, which enables them to align their term with the local primary school terms if they wish.