Early Childhood Care and Education
Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-23
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Kevin Boxer Moran (IND), Longford-Westmeath

The Minister would like to thank the Senator for raising this important issue and offering a full opportunity to respond. The ECCE programme provides two years of preschool free of charge to families and is based on the national practice framework, aistear and síolta. The programme enjoys a 96% participation rate, with over 1 million children enrolled in the programme since it was first introduced in 2010. The programme provides three free hours per day, five days per week, over 38 weeks per year.
Currently, children are eligible for the ECCE starting at two years and eight months and the upper age limit is five years and six months. The current eligibility criteria were set based on a number of considerations, including a review of international practice. The lower age range is informed by Tusla regulations and a minimum adult-to-child ratio for children in early learning and child care settings. These regulations take account of the needs of the developmental stages of children, such as toilet training and sleeping arrangements.
The Department recognises that the use of age limits for the purposes such of the ECCE programme can result in some children narrowly falling outside of the eligibility criteria in a given year. However, in the interests of fairness and consistency, the Department must apply a clear and fixed age threshold. The current arrangement ensures that all children have the same entitlement of two years of the ECCE, regardless of their birth date. Some parents may prefer children to start school at the age of four rather than five. These parents may, therefore, choose to avail of one year of the ECCE. However, it is important to note that this is a parental choice and the overall policy ensures that two years of the programme are available to all children.
The programme for Government commits to amend the ECCE programme eligibility criteria. The shaping the future early years action plan phase 1 report, published in December 2025, notes that the potential extension of the free ECCE programme and amending the age eligibility criteria will include consultation and analysis under the phase 2 of the action plan. Phase 2 actions, which will be undertaken in 2027 to the end of 2029, will be published in quarter four of 2026 before those actions can be specified in line with the commitment in the programme for Government. A broad public consultation process is currently underway.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-09-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-23