Written answers

Wednesday, 14 September 2022

Department of Education and Skills

Early Childhood Care and Education

Photo of Eoin Ó BroinEoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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348. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason that ancillary grants and minor works grants are not available to early-start educational settings; and if her Department will consider extending such grants to them. [45057/22]

Photo of Norma FoleyNorma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My Department's main intervention in the provision of early years education is the Early Start programme. The Early Start programme was established in 1994, and is a one-year intervention to meet the needs of children aged between 3 years and 5 years who are at risk of not reaching their potential within the school system. It involves an educational programme to enhance overall development, help prevent school failure and offset the effects of social disadvantage. The Early Start programme runs in 40 primary schools in designated areas of urban disadvantage, and has capacity for 1,620 children each year. Early Start units are staffed by teachers and child care workers, and the role of the child care workers is to meet the care needs of all the children in the unit, including those children with special educational needs. The programme opens each year to new child enrolments.

As the Early start programme is accommodated within existing primary school buildings, under my Department’s grant schemes improvement works to a primary school building such as roof works, window replacement etc., would generally incorporate the part of the primary school building that is occupied by the Early Start programme. Any changes to these grant schemes would be a policy matter and would also have to be considered in the context of overall budgets and wider priorities.

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) is responsible for early years education outside the formal education system and my colleague, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has recently announced a €10m Capital Grant for the Early Learning and Childcare Sector. The Building Blocks - Improvement Grant is part of a wider Building Blocks Capital Programme for Early Learning and Childcare under the National Development Plan. Grants will range from €35,000 to €75,000 across two separate strands: Green Energy and Retrofit. Services that sign up for the new €221m Core Funding Scheme are eligible for funding under for the Building Blocks Capital Programme.

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