Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)
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899. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of early starts throughout the country. [19504/25]

Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)
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900. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the early start programme could be a part of the DEIS + plan; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19505/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 899 and 900 together.

My department is committed to enabling children and young people achieve their full potential. As such, the Early Start programme was established in 1994 as a one-year intervention programme to meet the needs of children aged between 3 years and 5 years who are at risk of educational disadvantage and of not reaching their full 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. Early Start units are attached to primary schools and are staffed by teachers and child care workers.

Since the inception of Early Start, the early childhood education and care landscape in Ireland has changed significantly, with the introduction of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) scheme in 2010, and the extension of the ECCE scheme to a two-year programme in 2018. The ECCE scheme is under the remit of my colleague the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, and officials of my Department and its agencies co-operate closely with that Department, particularly in relation to Síolta and Aistear, the national quality and curriculum frameworks for early years care and education.

While the ECCE scheme is the national universal two-year pre-school programme available to all children, my department continues to fund the Early Start programme totalling around €6 million per year. Early Start is currently running in 39 primary schools around the country, and has nearly 800 enrolments for the current school year.

Tackling educational disadvantage is a key priority for me as Minister for Education and Youth. The DEIS programme is a key policy of government to tackle concentrated educational disadvantage at school level.

My department is investing over €180 million annually to provide additional?supports?to almost 1,200 schools in the DEIS programme.? This is additional to the universal measures including the free schoolbooks scheme that support children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage in all schools.

As Minister, I am determined to close the performance gap between DEIS and non-DEIS schools and introduce more innovative solutions to tackle educational disadvantage. Part of delivering this objective will be the introduction of a new DEIS Plus scheme to support schools with the highest levels of disadvantage.

To inform the development of the DEIS Plus scheme, I have established a design advisory group with principals, Home School Community Liaison and School Completion Programme coordinators, who work every day with children from areas of high inter-generational disadvantage. This group, which I met recently, led by officials from my Department are using a student-centred design approach to identify the resources needed to ensure the DEIS plus scheme will meet the needs of children and young people at acute risk of educational disadvantage.

My department is also intensifying its engagement with other government departments and agencies, the education partners, and stakeholders across the education sector to develop the DEIS Plus scheme.

I am committed to delivering a new DEIS Plan this year to outline my department’s overall approach to tackle educational disadvantage, and the DEIS Plus scheme will be an important part of that plan.