Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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576. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if ECCE, early childhood care and education, funding will be reinstated in July and August 2020 to allow childcare providers to make up for lost time. [13791/20]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is a universal two-year pre-school programme available to all children within the eligible age range. The programme is provided for three hours per day, five days per week over 38 weeks per year. The programme year runs from September to June each year, and is aligned with the primary school calendar.

The 2019/20 ECCE programme year is now closed, and I do not propose reopening the programme in July and August.

Details of the 2020/21 ECCE Programme will be released in the coming weeks.