Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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672. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the supports that exist to ensure that children who have additional needs can be supported by childcare providers outside the ECCE programme; and if there is any proposal to extend AIMS to all childcare models and to ensure that all childcare models can provide spaces for children who have additional needs. [34478/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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My Department funds the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) which supports the meaningful participation of children with additional needs in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. The key objective of AIM is to support pre-school providers to deliver an inclusive pre-school experience, ensuring that every eligible child can meaningfully participate in the ECCE programme and reap the benefits of quality early learning and care in any mainstream pre-school.

In order for a child to access AIM supports, they must be registered on the ECCE programme in an ECCE registered pre-school service. The ECCE programme is provided for 3 hours per day, 5 days per week over a 38 week programme year, excluding non-term times such as mid-term breaks and summer holidays.

AIM operates in tandem with the ECCE programme and as such, provision of AIM supports are directly linked with ECCE participation / hours of operation.

One of the commitments within First 5, A Whole of Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families, was to undertake an end of 3-year evaluation of AIM. That evaluation has now been completed, with the final report due to be published in quarter 3 of this year.  Subject to evaluation findings and other relevant developments, we will be considering enhancements to, and/or extension of, AIM to, for example, all ELC services, all school-age childcare services and to children with additional needs other than a disability.