Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 October 2024
670. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to provide a breakdown of the cost of extending the AIM programme supports to all children with a disability aged 0-3 in childcare for six hours a day, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43289/24]
View answer671. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to provide a breakdown of the cost of extending the AIM programme supports to all children with a disability aged 0-3 in childcare for eight hours a day, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43290/24]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 670 and 671 together.
The Access and Inclusion model is designed to support children in ECCE. From September 2024 it has also been expanded to support ECCE aged children in early learning and childcare outside of AIM.
The goal of the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) is to empower Early Learning and Care (ELC) providers to deliver an inclusive preschool experience, ensuring that every ECCE-eligible child can meaningfully participate in, and reap the benefits of high-quality early learning and care.
The minimum eligibility age of 2 years and 8 months for the ECCE programme (and by extension AIM) was chosen based on national experience and a review of international practice. It also had regard to the regulatory environment for Early Years education and care in this country and issues such as child development readiness and adult-child ratios.
This Department ultimately intends to extend AIM to younger children. However, this extension will require a redesign of AIM to ensure that it meets the different needs of pre-ECCE children, and also funding through the annual budget process to meet the needs of younger children. It will not be possible to estimate the cost of extending AIM to the 0-3 age group until the redesign is complete. Work in this regard is ongoing.
