PARENTS HAVE signed up 51,000 children to take part in the Government’s early childhood care and education scheme, which offers a year’s free pre-schooling.
Under the scheme, all children aged between three years and three months and four years and six months on September 1st each year are eligible for a year of pre-schooling paid for by the State.
The scheme replaces the early childhood supplement, which was scrapped in the budget in April last year. It will cost the State €170 million to operate every year.
The figures were released as an organisation representing childcare providers, the National Children’s Nurseries Association, warned that almost a third of its members had received no HSE inspection last year. It said 31 per cent of its members were not inspected in 2009.
“Irish children often stay in childcare services for eight hours per day . . . It is unacceptable that over 30 per cent of services received no inspection visit in 2009,” said the association, which called for a lifting of the embargo to relieve inspectorate shortages.