Following last week's Budget announcements, Minister for Children, James Reilly, has found himself the subject of much criticism on account of the government's decision to delay the free preschool year extension until September 2016.
Defending the controversial move, the Minister asserted that the delay would mean more children would benefit from the reform.
Elaborating on his point, he explained that as children can enter the scheme at three different times from next year, this will allow for less disappointment in the long run.
He did, however, acknowledge that not every child would benefit from the reform but insisted that this was unfortunately unavoidable and there was little he could do to prevent that from happening.
Highlighting the benefits of the new scheme, Mr. Reilly reminded the public that the extension would discourage parents from sending their children to school too early as a result of financial difficulties.
As 10,000 places are currently not in use within the existing scheme, Mr. Reilly asserted that the increased demand should not pose too large a challenge for the vast majority of providers.
