merrion street

Parents of children with disabilities who are now deciding whether to defer
their child’s entry into free pre-school will be able to avail of two full
years irrespective of any future policy changes, according to the Minister
for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr Katherine Zappone.

Following the decision last December to allow for a consultation process on
proposed changes to the rules on overage exemptions in the Early Childhood
Care and Education (ECCE) programme, the Minister has now acted to address
concerns raised by some parents who are facing imminent choices about their
children’s education.

This means that parents of children born over autumn months (i.e. from
September to December) can defer their children’s start date from September
2018 (when the child will be between 2 year 8 months and 2 years 11 months)
to September 2019 (when the child will be between 3 year 8 months and 3
years 11 months) and continue to avail of 2 full years of the ECCE
Programme (or 76 consecutive ECCE weeks). As a consequence, an exemption to
the upper age limit in the ECCE Programme will be maintained for this
cohort for this period of time.

The Minister also advised that details of the consultation process are
being finalised and will be published shortly.