National fund would ensure access for all to ECCE year

A Government TD says a national fund should be in place to ensure no child is unable to fully access the free year of pre-school because of a disability.

Michael Creed was speaking after Children’s Ombudsman Emily Logan criticised the absence of Government policy or funding to ensure all children with special needs can fully avail of the early childhood care and education (ECCE) scheme.

After investigating a complaint about services from the mother of a profoundly deaf girl who had difficulty finding out about her entitlements, her office concluded that physical care and other supports available to allow children attend their full entitlement of ECCE are inconsistent and inequitable around the country.

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Department of Health are still considering the question of how to support inclusion of children with disabilities in mainstream pre-school, four years after the Government’s ECCE scheme began and three years since a cross-departmental group finished its work on the question.

Mr Creed, a Fine Gael TD for Cork North West, said there should be a system where care support is available to every pre-school provider which enrols a child with special needs, in the same way that special needs assistants (SNAs) are allocated to primary and second-level schools.

“The pre-school year was introduced because it was felt it was an important stepping stone, so why should the child with a disability not have the same entitlement?” asked Mr Creed. “It’s probably because the issue crosses so many departments, but the issue is that there needs to be a centralised fund accessible by those who provide the ECCE year, whether they are community-based, a special school, or whether they are a private commercial operation.

“It’s not fair to say to a child in Macroom, for example, that you can’t go to the local ECCE provider but we can provide you with the service in Ballincollig, or in Cork city nearly 40 miles away, when it’s appropriate for the child to be in a local pre-school and the only impediment is their disability.

“There should be a fund accessible to the service providers that means they can take all children and they can access supports, whether it’s physical support, personnel support or other resources, in the same way they can in primary and secondary schools through the SNA scheme.”

Ms Logan’s office found that, while provisions are made for children with disability to spread ECCE over two years or to avail of it later than the usual age limit, the entitlements were not properly communicated to the Dublin girl’s mother, who complained about provision in 2011.

The DCYA told the Irish Examiner it does not know how many children availed of either exemption but plans to begin gathering that information.