David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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485. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will re-examine the decision not to grant an earlier date of payment for a core funding application for a childcare service provider (details supplied) given the circumstances; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32092/23]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Core Funding programme year began on 15 September 2022, underpinned by the commencement of Employment Regulation Orders for the sector. The service in question completed the first stage of their application on 26 August and submitted their Core Funding Application Module and contracted for Core Funding on 13 October 2022, and was paid from that date forward. After contracting for Core Funding on 13 October, the service contacted Pobal to request backdated payments in respect of the 4 weeks from the beginning of the programme year on 15 September.

Backdating payments prior to the contracting date were only considered in cases of delayed application where there was documented evidence that the issue had been raised in advance with Pobal. In this case, as the service provider did not make any contact with Pobal during the period between 26 August and 13 October, backdated payments were not awarded. Decisions on backdating payments are underpinned by an audit trail of contact between the provider and Pobal’s Early Years Providers Centre. Decisions on backdating of Core Funding payments are final.

If the service is experiencing any financial difficulty, they are encouraged to contact their local City/County Childcare Committee (CCC) who can provide case management supports.

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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486. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to confirm that a child (details supplied) who will be two years, seven months and three weeks in September 2024 will be available to avail of the early childhood care and education, ECCE, scheme in September 2024 as he will be only seven days short of the criterion of being two years and eight months of age under the ECCE guidelines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32136/23]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme is a universal two year pre-school programme available to all children within the eligible age range. A child must have reached 2 years and 8 months of age on or prior to 31 August of the relevant programme year to be eligible.

Children born between January and December 2022 are eligible to begin ECCE in September 2025 and avail of a second year in September 2026. There are no exceptions to the eligible start dates however It is important to note that all children are eligible for 2 years of free pre-school under the ECCE programme.

In order to ensure objectivity and fairness, it is essential that clear rules exist for the scheme and that they are applied evenly. I accept that the use of age limits in a scheme such as ECCE creates a situation whereby a child can fall just outside the age range, however, my Department have to place an age cut-off at some point, and in the interests of fairness and consistency there can be no discretion in this regard. 

I have appointed Stranmillis University College, Belfast to undertake an independent review of the ECCE programme. The review will assess whether the ECCE Programme is meeting its core objectives and will identify any changes or improvements that can be made to the Programme, based on international evidence and experience to date. The final report is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. I will then consider the review fully and consider any policy changes that may need to be made to the programme.