James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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664.To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to examine the case (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25454/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The ECCE Programme is a free, universal two-year preschool programme available to all children within the eligible age range, funded by my Department, with payments made to approved ECCE providers. The key issue of concern for this parent relates to an ECCE compliance inspection of their child's approved ECCE provider, which was conducted by Pobal on behalf of my Department on 12 March 2024, as part of its compliance function.

The ECCE compliance function is key to protecting Exchequer Funding, and upholding the integrity of ECCE funding. In this case, the finding of non-compliance issued to the approved ECCE provider was due to the Pobal Compliance Visit Officer noting that no attendance had been recorded for the named child. Approved providers sign an ECCE Funding Agreement on an annual basis, in which they agree to maintain accurate attendance records for each child receiving ECCE funding. Clause 8.3 of the ECCE 2023/2024 Rules states that, “Failure to maintain attendance records may result in an assumption of zero hour’s attendance”. In this case, the approved ECCE provider had not maintained attendance records for this child, although the child had been registered under ECCE from 16 October 2023. As a result, the service was found to be non-compliant, with the relevant funding to be recouped.

The recouping of funding relates to ECCE funding only, which is provided by my Department to the approved ECCE provider. It may be noted that the provider is receiving Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) Level 7 funding for this child, which has not been impacted by this compliance finding. Furthermore, the service was informed by Pobal that they may re-register the child from the week commencing 18 March 2024, and avail of ECCE funding from that date. The approved ECCE provider has raised a “Late Registration Request” with Pobal. Any subsequent ECCE registration for this child for the 2024/2025 ECCE programme year will not be affected by the compliance finding.

Furthermore, Pobal have informed the approved ECCE provider that they may enter into a repayment plan to mitigate any immediate financial impacts arising from this compliance finding.