Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 January 2026
876. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her Department provides transportation funding for children with special education needs who have to travel to attend an early years education setting appropriate for their needs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4347/26]
View answerThis Department funds both the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) mainstream preschool programme and the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) which is a model of supports designed to ensure that children with disabilities who are eligible for ECCE can access early learning and childcare. The goal of AIM is to empower preschool providers to deliver an inclusive preschool experience, ensuring that every eligible child can meaningfully participate in, and reap the benefits of, high quality early learning and care.
AIM provides for a series of in-service supports including advice, equipment and additional staffing depending on the individual needs of the child. AIM does not provide funding for transport. General funding through state subsidised fees may at the discretion of the provider be used to support a transport service offer.
The Department of Education and Youth provides a School Transport Scheme, the purpose of which is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remotely from their nearest school. An application for transport may be submitted for a pupil in an Early Intervention class. Early intervention classes for autistic children are preschool classes situated in mainstream primary schools or in special schools.
Under the terms of the School Transport Scheme for Children with Special Educational Needs, the Department of Education and Youth will consider the report of the Special Education Needs Organiser (SENO). School transport is provided to children with special educational needs who are attending the nearest school to their place of residence that is or can be resourced to meet their educational needs, as identified by the SENO.
