I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran, to the Chamber.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as a bheith anseo inniu. I want to raise the issue of the ECCE scheme and its impact on children who miss the eligibility criteria by only a matter of days or weeks, particularly kids with additional needs. I would also like to ask whether any changes to these criteria are being considered.

Currently, there are no exemptions to the lower age limit for the ECCE scheme. This means that a child who misses the eligibility threshold by only a few days or weeks must wait an entire additional year before becoming eligible for a State-funded preschool place. Many parents are finding this incredibly unfair and a difference of only a few weeks or days in a child's date of birth will determine whether they receive one or two years of ECCE funding and can significantly affect their educational pathway. As a result, some parents feel pressure to delay their child's entry to primary school in order that they can benefit from the full two years of ECCE prior to primary school. Others choose to send their child to school at the usual age and receive only one year of ECCE support.

This issue is particularly concerning for children with intellectual disabilities and other additional needs. The State recognises that early intervention is critical in supporting the development of children with disabilities. However, there does appear to be a contradiction within the current system. A child may be assessed by speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, psychology services or children's disability network teams, CDNTs, and be deemed likely to benefit from early education participation. They may be developmentally ready for preschool and could greatly benefit from the environment yet there is still no provision or exemption within ECCE for a lower age limit regardless of disability or ability, developmental need or professional recommendation.

As an example, I have been working with a young child from the constituency I live in of Cork North-West. Noah is a young lad who is almost three years of age and has Down's syndrome. He is thriving and is making excellent progress in all areas of his development but because Noah was born in January, he did not qualify for ECCE when he began preschool a few weeks ago. Following professional advice from therapists, his parents still felt it was in his best interests to send him rather than waiting another year because delaying this could have delayed his development. As a result of this, they are now facing a full year of preschool fees without any ECCE support.

In addition, as preparation to ensure that Noah was able to attend preschool this year, he was attending private speech and language therapy, craniosacral therapy, physiotherapy and occupational therapy sessions each week. This was to ensure he was able to go to preschool this year and then he was ineligible for ECCE. This is all extra cost to his parents. On top of all this private therapy they have been paying for to ensure he was ready for preschool, they now have to pay for preschool because he misses out by three weeks due to the fact that he was born in January.

Children with disabilities often require earlier interventions. This is nothing new. As a Government, we are saying this all the time and not later interventions. A rigid age-based rule may unintentionally delay access to an environment that supports language development, communication, socialisation, independence and school readiness. We know early intervention makes a difference and it is insane that the ECCE scheme is not supporting that. We have situations, particularly with kids with additional needs, where they cannot avail of their extra year because of a rigid, mandatory age requirement.

Going back to Noah, he has now been in preschool for a month. His parents and therapists have already seen remarkable progress. He is a smashing little kid. He is doing really well. He is using new words, and he is engaging with other children. If he had not been able to go to preschool this year, none of that would have been possible.

His parents put additional therapies in place to ensure that he was, but then found out he was ineligible and missed out by a few weeks due to a mandatory age requirement. How many other kids around the country are like Noah? Fortunately, his parents were able to afford to pay for an extra year of the ECCE scheme. A lot of parents are not lucky enough to be in that situation. I appreciate it is not quite within the remit of the Minister, but I thank her for taking this matter. Can any changes be made, given that it is an arbitrary requirement?

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.

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.

I agree with the Senator. As I outlined in my opening remarks, I will bring this issue to the attention of the Minister. I meet many children and parents who experience the same difficulties the Senator has outlined. I feel for those people. The programme for Government is committed to delivering on this and we will do so.