Featured News

From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth 

Published on 4 May 2023 

Last updated on 4 May 2023

Roderic O’Gorman, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, together with Hildegarde Naughton, Minister of State with responsibility for Public Health, Well Being and the National Drugs Strategy, has today, launched the Nutrition Standards for Early Learning and Care Services.

The aim of these Nutrition Standards, developed in collaboration with Healthy Ireland and the Department of Health, is to inform the development and implementation of Healthy Eating Policy and practice in Early Learning and Care Services. This is to ensure agreement on the promotion of healthy foods and drinks in main meals, snacks and celebrations in partnership with children, parents, service providers and the wider community.

These standards show the importance of the need to recognise that small children have small tummies and as a result Educators and parents need to be mindful of the portion sizes that children receive when eating. The Children’s Food Pyramid will assist families in making healthier choices for their child as it provides a range of information on the number of servings from each shelf needed at different ages. It also recognises that some children of the same age will need more food and some will need less.

Minister Naughton said:

“These standards are another step to help make the healthy choice the easier choice for everyone”.

I am confident that these standards will assist parents and Early Learning and Care Services to help children develop a healthy relationship with food which will set them up for a healthier life."

 

The Nutrition Standards for Early Learning and Care Service can be found here:

Nutrition Standards for Early Learning and Care Services - English
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Nutrition Standards for Early Learning and Care Services - Irish
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Landmark review of the Child Care Act 1991 receives approval to be drafted
From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth

Published on 19 April 2023

Last updated on 19 April 2023

• The Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2023 provides for the review and update of the Child Care Act 1991, the primary Act guiding child welfare and protection in Ireland

• The new Bill intends to capture positive policy and practice developments and address legislative gaps identified during the review process and will also revise and update the regulation of early learning and childcare services.

Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, has today (19 April) announced government approval to draft the Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2023.

The Bill, when enacted, will revise and update the 1991 Act to better reflect changes in child welfare and protection services in Ireland in the 30 years since enactment of the 1991 Act, as well as capture current legislative, policy and practice developments.

The Bill will also revise and update the regulation of early learning and childcare services.

The development of the Bill was informed by significant engagement and consultation with stakeholders to collect their views on the legislation including through public consultations, written submissions and a number of consultation events. This included extensive engagement with Tusla on subjects covered by the 1991 Act.

Some of the most significant areas of change proposed are as follows:

• Introduction of a guiding principles section to the Act, with the best interests of the child as the overriding principle.

• Introduction of a duty to cooperate between relevant bodies, such as Tusla, Government Departments, the Health Service Executive (HSE) and An Garda Síochána (AGS). This cooperation will include the sharing of information between relevant bodies and Tusla, and with each other, in accordance with the law and as necessary and proportionate.

• The voice of the child is to be strengthened both in court proceedings and in decisions taken outside the court setting by introducing a principle that children should be able to participate in the decision-making process.

• Amendments to Section 3 of the Child Care and to Children First Act 2015 related to assessments of reports of harm.

• Amendments to existing rules for Supervision Orders, Interim Care Orders, Care Orders, Emergency Care Orders and Voluntary Care Agreements.

• Amendments to Part VIIA to allow Tusla Early Years Inspectorate to immediately close unregistered early learning and childcare services, to temporarily suspend registered services where there are concerns about significant risk to children, to share information on enforcement action with parents, to place some additional enforcement measures on a legislative footing, and to introduce a “Fit Person” regulation.

Welcoming the announcement, Minister O’Gorman said:

“The Child Care Act 1991 was a transformative piece of legislation, helping to promote the protection of children. We want to build on that, making the Act more child-centred, and taking account of the many societal and legislative changes since 1991 including the establishment of the Child and Family Agency, Children First legislation and the children’s referendum.”

The General Scheme will now be referred to the Office of the Attorney General for priority drafting of the Bill. The text of the Bill will be finalised as a matter of priority and it is intended to progress the legislation through the Houses of the Oireachtas in the coming months.

For more information on the review of the Child Care Act click here

For more information on the public consultation on a review of regulations for early learning and care click here

For the report on a public consultation on a review of regulations for early learning and care click here

Dear Providers,

Following on from the update on attendance rules that issued via the e-bulletin last month, please find bellow a copy of a letter that will be sent to all parents registered with NCS.

Regards,
The Early Years Team

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Dear Parent/Guardian,

We are writing to you to remind you of the attendance rules for the National Childcare Scheme (NCS), and in particular the flexibility under the Scheme to support families when there are occasional changes to your child’s attendance pattern.

We recognise that there will be occasions where your child’s attendance is less than your registered hours. This could be due to illness, appointments, early collections and late drop offs. Picking your child up early every now and then has no effect on your subsidy, and childcare providers will routinely round up your child’s daily attendance to the nearest full hour. Missing a day due to illness every now and then or taking 2 weeks holiday will not affect your subsidy.

For more information read on:

My Registered Hours

When your NCS application was approved, you received a unique CHICK code, along with a maximum number of weekly hours that the subsidy will be paid. This is the code you took to your childcare provider.

NCS is designed to be flexible. For example, a subsidy covering up to 20 hours can be used for four half-day sessions (8am – 1pm) or could be used for two full-day sessions (8am-6pm).

You can use the subsidised hours in a way that best suits your family needs and the sessions your chosen childcare provider is offering.

When you registered, both you and the provider will have confirmed how many hours you planned to use. It is important that this reflects the hours your child will actually be attending childcare. For example, if you are entitled to the maximum 45 hour a week subsidy but you know your child will be attending for 30 hours a week, you should ask your childcare provider to register for 30 hours. When you are confirming the registration, you must make sure the hours your provider has registered are correct.

Occasionally using different hours

Subsidies will only be reduced if your child is continuously absent from a service, or not using the agreed hours for a prolonged period.

Continuously absent means 4 weeks or more (with some exceptions for prolonged illness and certain other exceptional events).

Not using agreed hours for a prolonged period means not using the hours you agreed every week for 8 weeks or more, at which point the provider will be notified and will alert you.

If the reduced hours were temporary and you return to your registered hours within the next four weeks, then you don’t have to do anything.

If the hours used don’t return to those registered within this time period, then after 12 weeks of using fewer hours than your registration, the number of hours that can be claimed will be capped to reflect the number of hours actually attended on average in the previous 12 weeks. This will only affect your subsidy from this point on however, no money will be reclaimed from you or the provider for the initial 12 week period.

Permanently using different hours

If you plan to continue using these reduced hours in the future, you should inform your childcare provider so they can update your registration.

If you require more hours at certain times of the year up to the maximum hours allowed – for example, your child is in ECCE or school and you want to increase hours during mid-terms and summer holidays - this is allowed on the scheme, once it is agreed with your provider. It is important to note that only hours when the child is not in ECCE or school can be claimed for under the NCS.

We hope that this information proves useful, but if you have any further questions please contact the Parent Support Centre on 01 906 8530 for further advice.

From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth 

Published on 14 April 2023

• Report summarises feedback received through public consultation process
• Publication coincides with World Autism Month

To coincide with World Autism Month 2023, Minister for Disability, Anne Rabbitte, has today published a report analysing submissions received during an open public consultation designed to inform the development of the Autism Innovation Strategy.

This public consultation was convened in April 2022 and was designed to capture views about the challenges facing Autistic people in Ireland and how these challenges could be addressed.

There was a positive response from the Autistic community and the report aims to capture the richness and variety of perspectives put forward as part of the consultation.

The key findings identified in the report will directly inform the drafting of the Autism Innovation Strategy.

The Autism Innovation Strategy will seek to identify and deliver tangible solutions to address the bespoke challenges faced by Autistic and Neurodivergent people across Ireland. The strategy will identify simple, clear actions that can make a real difference to people’s lives. It will focus on areas that may not be addressed by other national strategies and frameworks on the basis of additionality and complementarity.

Announcing the publication of the report, Minister Rabbitte said:

“I am delighted to announce the publication of this important report that seeks to capture the voice of the Autistic community and highlights their views as to how the State can better recognise and meet their needs.

“It is crucial that the Autism Innovation Strategy be informed by the lived experience of Autistic people, and this report provides an invaluable source of insights and perspectives in this regard. I would like to thank all those individuals and organisations that contributed to the public consultation.

“Publication of this report is particularly timely as we mark World Autism Month 2023. This is an important opportunity to celebrate the contribution of the Autistic community to our society and to consider how we as a Government and a society can do more for Autistic and Neurodivergent people.

“I look forward to further progressing development of the Autism Innovation Strategy over the coming months as we work to make a meaningful difference to the lives of Autistic and Neurodivergent people in Ireland,”

concluded Minister Rabbitte.

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Action on Autism is a commitment in the Programme for Government.

On World Autism Awareness Day in 2021, Minister Rabbitte announced the Government’s intention to develop a national strategy on Autism. The Autism Innovation Strategy will complement existing policies and frameworks by addressing the bespoke challenges faced by Autistic and Neurodivergent people in Ireland.

Consultation with Autistic and Neurodivergent people, their families, supporters and representatives will be at the heart of the Autism Innovation Strategy, in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The first stage in the development process of the Autism Innovation Strategy consisted of an initial public consultation, which took place from April to May 2022. The report published today summarises and analyses the submissions received as part of this consultation.

The second phase of the development process, comprising an application process for membership of the Autism Innovation Strategy Oversight and Advisory Group, was launched in June 2022. The group was appointed and met for the first time in December 2022.

The findings from the public consultation will now help to inform the text and scope of the Strategy, which is currently being prepared.

 

AIS Report on Public Consultation_April 2023

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From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth 

Published on 13 April 2023 

 

This paper was produced by the Research and Evaluation Unit (REU) to support and inform the establishment of a new Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) Infant Cohort. This will be known as GUI Cohort 24’. Pilot data collection by the Central Statistics Office, from a large national sample of parents and their 9 month old infants is scheduled for 2023, with the main phase data collection scheduled for 2024. The paper provides an overview of the policy, social and economic context related to the new infant cohort.

 

The paper is organised into two main sections. The first provides an introduction to the topic and outlines the relevant priorities under First 5, the whole-of-Government strategy to improve the lives of babies, young children and their families. The second section details the wider policy landscape, highlighting the key data needs and gaps relevant to the new infant cohort and Growing Up in Ireland.