Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 December 2025
877. Deputy William Aird asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality his plans to further strengthen AIM in the 2025-2026 programme year to ensure children with disabilities can fully participate in pre-school education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [72542/25]
View answerThe Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) was introduced in 2016 to ensure that children with a disability can access and participate in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme.
AIM provides both universal supports to pre-school settings and targeted supports tailored to individual children’s needs, without requiring a formal diagnosis.
Reflecting the Government’s strong commitment to affordable and accessible childcare, the AIM budget will reach €84.05 million in 2026 — an increase of 46% since 2024. This funding will support up to 9,000 children to access the ECCE programme in 2026 through targeted AIM supports, as well as a 10% increase in the capitation rate for AIM Level 7, which was introduced from October 2025.
The ‘First 5’ whole-of-government strategy commits to the phased extension of AIM, a commitment that was reaffirmed by the findings of an independent end-of-year-three evaluation conducted by the University of Derby and published in January 2024. Participants in the evaluation, including providers, educators, and parents, strongly supported the scaling up of AIM. They also expressed a desire to see AIM extended to hours outside of the ECCE entitlement.
Based on the evaluation’s findings, AIM is now being extended on a phased basis as funding becomes available. Since September 2024, targeted AIM supports have been available to ECCE-eligible children outside of ECCE hours—both during term time and in holiday periods. Children can now access up to three additional hours per day during the ECCE term and up to six hours per day outside of term, through the National Childcare Scheme (NCS).
The Programme for Government commits to ‘examine and expand the Access and Inclusion Model and make it available to younger children.’ Work is now underway on a tailored model to extend AIM to children under three years of age, ensuring it meets the specific needs of this younger cohort. Consideration will also be given, at a later stage, to extending AIM to children attending school-age childcare. It is critical that any extension of AIM supports to these different age cohorts is evidence-based and reflective of their needs
