Minister for Education Norma Foley, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Roderic O’Gorman and Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Patrick O’Donovan today announced the publication of the Traveller and Roma Education Strategy (TRES).

The Strategy is a key action under the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy 2024-2030 (NTRIS II) and is also a committment in the Programme for Government.

It has been specifically developed to meet the needs of children, young people and adults from the Traveller and Roma communities with the aim of enhancing their education and outcomes.

Under the first two-year implementation plan for the strategy, two national Traveller and Roma Education Strategy co-ordinators will be appointed to support the implementation of actions within the Strategy, with an additional full-time national Supporting Traveller and Roma (STAR) co-ordinator role to support Traveller and Roma education. Family Link Workers will also be appointed to support the full roll out of the Tusla Traveller Parenting Support Programme.

Other key actions outlined in the plan include to:

• Increase the numbers of young people remaining in school to 6th year and achieving a Leaving Certificate

• Promote training on inclusion and diversity through teacher professional learning, develop more targeted cultural competence training

• Promote diversity in the education sector workforce

• Teach Traveller culture and history through the curriculum

• Introduce an information series on key education matters and policies as they relate to Traveller and Roma children and young people, which is accessible and available in a number of languages

• Through the Equal Start early learning and childcare model:

o Ensure all Traveller and Roma children participate in the ECCE programme

o Welcome and include Traveller and Roma families in early learning and childcare

o Ensure all early years educators and school age practitioners have training and resources in diversity and inclusion

o Offer additional supports to targeted services

• Ensure that students accessing tertiary education have a positive and welcoming experience

• Provide flexible and responsive learning opportunities

• Create safe and inclusive higher education campuses

• Through research, identify barriers to accessing tertiary education

Minister Foley said:

Minister O’Gorman said:

Minister O’Donovan said:

First 5, the ten-year Whole-of-Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families (2019-2028) was published in November 2018 setting out an ambitious programme of work over ten years to improve services and supports to young children. The second implementation plan for the strategy, covering the period 2023-2025, was published last year.

The report published today summarises recent progress in implementing the strategy, with 80% of all 2023 commitments met at this point and 95% expected to be met by year end. The Report also outlines key achievements from 2023 including:

• Additional funding was secured in Budget 2024 to extend Parent’s Leave and Benefit by an additional two weeks, bringing the total entitlement to Parent’s Leave to nine weeks with effect from August 2024;

• The Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act was enacted introducing the right to request flexible working for parents and carers and extending breastfeeding breaks for working mothers from six months to two years;

• New measures were introduced under Supporting Parents: The National Model of Parenting Support Services;

• A Steering Group was convened by the Department of Health to recommence work on the establishment of a dedicated child health workforce;

• Funding of €1.109 billion was secured in Budget 2024, representing an €83 million (8%) increase on the 2023 budget allocation. Through this funding, there will be improved affordability for parents, improved availability and quality of early learning and childcare provision and additional supports for children with a disability and for children experiencing disadvantage.;

• New measures to tackle early childhood poverty were developed, including Equal Start the major new model of Government-funded supports to ensure children experiencing disadvantage can access and meaningfully participate in early learning and childcare.

Speaking about today’s publication, Minister O’ Gorman said:

The Minister also welcomed the continued collaborative efforts and shared ambition to deliver on the vision of First 5 across Government Departments, State Agencies and the Community and Voluntary sector and reiterated Government’s continued commitment to First 5.

Minister O’ Gorman said:

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• A broader range of options for parents to balance working and caring

Funding was secured in Budget 2024 to extend Parent’s Leave and Benefit by an additional two weeks with effect from August 2024. This increase will apply children who are under the age of two, or adopted children who have been placed with their parents for less than two years by this date. The combined durations of Maternity, Paternity and Parent’s Leave and Benefit will equate to 46 weeks paid leave for a two-parent family. This is supplemented by an entitlement to 16 weeks of unpaid Maternity Leave.

• A new model of parenting support

A social campaign driving traffic towards Supporting Parents: A National Model of Parenting Support Services started in September 2023. The webpages are live on gov.ie and act as a one-stop shop for information on all Supporting Parents Services operating nationally.

A Parenting Support Awareness Fund has been rolled out to 10 Children and Young People’s Services Committees in 2023, delivered through Parenting Support Sub-groups. Twenty five projects also received funding under the 2023 Supporting Parents, Parent Peer Support Fund. Through this Fund, a total of €50,000 was allocated to support organisations across Ireland.

• New developments in child health

A Steering Group was convened by the Department of Health to recommence work on the establishment of a dedicated child health workforce.

The Department of Health also completed a national standardised curriculum for antenatal education providers, as well as a national education programme for parents.

New Healthy Eating guidelines were developed to help parents and carers establish good eating habits in children and the 2023/26 Skin Cancer Prevention Plan in March 2023 with babies and young children identified as a priority group.

• Reform of the Early Learning and Care system

A Critical Incident Plan for Early Learning and Care Settings was published in 2023. This resource provides information on the kinds of support that will help children to cope better following a critical incident.

A review of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme was completed by Stranmillis University College Belfast at the end of 2023 with findings to inform work the put the programme on a statutory footing.

A working group was convened to review National Childcare Scheme sponsorship provision in 2023 with funding secured in Budget 2024 to implement recommendations from the review.

A mapping of Irish-language Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare services was carried out.

• A package of measures to tackle early childhood poverty and disadvantage

Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman has today announced details of the €25m Building Blocks Extension Grant scheme for early learning and childcare providers.

The Scheme will deliver additional capacity for one to three-year-olds by supporting existing early learning and childcare Core Funding partner services, both community and private services, to undertake extensions to their existing premises. It will also fund community-based not-for-profit services who wish to purchase or construct new premises.

The Building Blocks Extension Grant Scheme is part of the wider Building Blocks Capital Programme for Early Learning and Childcare under the revised National Development Plan 2021-2030 (NDP). €25 million will be available for the scheme over 2025 and 2026.

Projects with a value between €100,000 and €650,000 will be eligible and can include:

The Extension Grant scheme follows on from the Expansion Grant scheme which ran earlier this year. Minister O’Gorman is also today announcing that 23 services were successful in the appraisal process under that scheme and their projects have been recommended for funding. Successful services are being contacted directly by Pobal to agree next steps required to proceed to contracting. Grants of between €25,000 and €100,000 have been recommended for projects to undertake renovation or upgrades to existing space to cater for more children. The funding is anticipated to deliver 308 new places for one to three-year-olds.

Making the announcement today, Minister O’Gorman said:

Minister O’Gorman said that the next phase – the Building Blocks Extension Grant Scheme – will be more ambitious and have an even greater impact on the sector. He said:

He added:

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth continues to progress a range of other actions to increase the supply of quality and affordable early learning and childcare. These include the ongoing development and additional resourcing of Core Funding, which has given rise to a significant expansion of places since the scheme was first introduced, as well as the regulation of childminders under the National Action Plan for Childminding, which will allow the National Childcare Scheme to open to parents who use childminders from autumn 2024.

The Department is also working with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to review the 2001 Planning Guidelines for Childcare Facilities, including through the undertaking of a survey of planning authorities on their application.

Separately, the Department of Education has recently published Procedures for the Use of School Buildings Outside of School Hours which encourages and supports the use of school buildings for early learning and care and school age childcare where there is scope to do so.

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Building Blocks Extension Grant Scheme

Roderic O’Gorman, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has today announced details of €13.5 million in additional funding for Equal Start – the major new model of Government-funded supports to ensure children experiencing disadvantage can access and meaningfully participate in early learning and childcare.

Equal Start will include a suite of universal supports, child-targeted supports and setting-targeted supports to ensure every child and every early learning and childcare setting will benefit from a continuum of supports that reflects a continuum of need.

Children to benefit from child-targeted supports will include children living in disadvantaged areas, Traveller children, Roma children, children availing of the National Childcare Scheme through a sponsor body, children experiencing homelessness and children in the International Protection system.

Settings to benefit from setting-targeted supports – approximately 750 are settings, which have been objectively identified as operating in the context of the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage.

The majority of additional funding for Equal Start for the first programme year – over €11 million – will be allocated to these targeted settings to fund additional staff hours that can be used to support engagement between the settings and families, engagement between the settings and other child and family support services, training in inclusive practices and to support other educators and practitioners in the provision of early learning and childcare to children with higher levels of need.

There will be two tiers of support depending on the levels of disadvantage within the setting:

• around 300 “Tier 1” settings serving 12,500 children will receive funding to support a 15% increase staffing hours

• around 450 “Tier 2” settings serving 22,000 children will receive funding to support an 8% increase staffing hours

The settings that have been objectively identified as operating in the context of the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage will be notified in the coming weeks if they have been designated as Tier 1 or Tier 2 settings. Settings must be in contract for Core Funding in the coming programme year to benefit from these setting-targeted supports.

The remaining funding available for Equal Start in the first programme year will support the following:

• Appointment of six Family Link Workers to support the full roll out of the Traveller Parenting Support Programme to all 17 Tusla areas, with new responsibilities on Family Link Workers to engage with Traveller parents of children aged 1-5 years, supporting them to attend and participate in early learning and childcare, avail of the ECCE programme and where applicable applying for the NCS.

• Appointment of a Traveller and Roma Advisory Specialists to work in Better Start

• Review and updating of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Guidelines and associated training

• Review of the current Inclusion Co-ordinator role and updating of Leadership for Inclusion Programme

• Development of a new Family Community Liaison role and development and rollout of associated training programme

• Roll-out of Early Talk Boost to Equal Start target settings

• Roll-out of Meitheal training and engagement by early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners in Meitheal

• Development and roll out of Communications and Engagement Plan

• Development of a new strand of funding under the existing Case Management Process for critical incidents

• Roll-out Equal Start literacy and numeracy initiatives under the National Literacy, Numeracy and Digital Literacy Strategy.

Commenting on today’s announcement, Minister O’Gorman said:

Overview

Equal Start is a funding model and a set of universal and targeted measures to support access and full participation in early learning and care (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC) for children and their families who experience disadvantage. In support of this overarching objective, Equal Start consists of a series of actions – 17 in total – to support children and families as well as educators, practitioners and settings. The goals of Equal Start are that:

• All children , in particular children experiencing disadvantage, have equitable access and participation in ELC and SAC settings.

• All ELC and SAC settings ,in particular settings operating in the context of concentrated disadvantage, equitably promote the learning and care of children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

• Parents and families , in particular parents and families experiencing disadvantage, are empowered with the knowledge, tools and supports necessary for children to have equitable access and participation in ELC and SAC.

Equal Start constitutes the fourth strand of Together for Better, the funding model for early learning and care and school-age childcare and complements the Early Childhood Care and Education programme, the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM), the National Childcare Scheme (NCS), and Core Funding as well as other key policies that also support disadvantaged children within early learning and care and school-age childcare.

Universal measures (Strand 1) – Every child and every setting

Child-targeted measures (Strand 2) – Every child with a priority designation

Strand 2 of Equal Start will provide child-targeted measures – measures that are available in all settings and that will focus additional supports on children from disadvantaged backgrounds and priority groups, including:

• children living in a small area assigned as deprived under the Pobal HP Deprivation Index,

• children from a Traveller or Roma ethnic background,

• children availing of the National Childcare Scheme through a sponsor referral,

• children living in homeless accommodation, and

• children living in an International Protection Accommodation Centre or Emergency Orientation and Reception Centres.

E. Developing tailored responses – working with representative organisations of target groups to co-create effective solutions to address barriers to access and participation in ELC and SAC for children from those target groups.

Setting-targeted measures (Strand 3) – Every setting with a priority designation

Identification Model