Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 4 July 2024
431. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the amount of annual funding provided for children with disabilities to participate in preschool education. [28844/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe award winning Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) has supported more than 28,000 children with a disability to access and meaningfully participate in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme since it was first introduced in September 2016.
In Budget 2024, I was very pleased to secure an allocation of €57.497m for AIM, including an additional €14m. €7m of the additional allocation is supporting the increasing cohort of children with a disability requiring AIM supports to access and meaningfully participate in the ECCE programme and €7m will provide an extension of AIM support from September 2024. This means that children with a disability registered on the ECCE programme will now be fully supported to access and participate in early learning and childcare settings for up to 30 hours per week year round (including ECCE programme attendance of 15 hours per week during term time).
It is intended that over time, all children with additional needs in early learning and childcare services will have access to supports under AIM. To this end, officials in my Department will also be considering an extension of AIM to children under 3 as well as an extension of AIM to school-age childcare.
