Early Childhood Care and Education
Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-23
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Eileen Lynch (FG), Agricultural Panel

I thank the Minister of State for the response. I note it is not quite within the responsibility of his Department. It is a very standard response. It is disappointing in terms of the question I raised. Again, I appreciate that it is not his responsibility. Unfortunately, I do not have a written copy and do not have a note of what he said.
He outlined the mandatory criteria. That is all well and good, but kids operate on a different basis. I heard an example today of a child who has additional needs. Nobody is taking account of that in the current ECCE scheme. I am not taking away from the scheme. The Minister of State outlined its advantages. It is a fantastic scheme for those who are born at the right time. Whether a child does or does not have additional needs, they can miss out on the full year of the scheme by a matter of days or weeks. It is an arbitrary date. I ask that the Minister consider changing the criteria so that places can be accepted throughout the year on a rolling basis. As I said, whether a child has additional needs the dates are arbitrary.
Parents are being put under undue pressure. The scheme and funding are in place. The Minister of State outlined all of the advantages of the scheme, and I am not trying to take away from that, but it is unfortunate that many children are missing out because of an arbitrary date. A lot of discretion needs to be used. The Minister of State mentioned a review, but it is not coming fast enough. We have no indication as to whether the review will examine the eligibility dates.

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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