My Department's involvement in the provision of education services for children with special needs of pre-school age is currently confined to a small number of pre-school classes catering for children with autism. Details of the level of demand for pre-school places generally for children with special needs are not available in my Department.
The White Paper on early childhood education sets out a blueprint for the development of the pre-school sector over the period 2000 to 2006, including developments in relation to provision for children with special needs. With a view to implementation of the White Paper, my Department has sought and received proposals from third level institutions for a pilot project to develop and co-ordinate early childhood education provision in pursuance of the objectives in the White Paper. Discussions with the institutions concerned are well advanced and I expect to be in a position to announce details of the project in the near future.
However, in advance of the above developments I recently announced proposals for the introduction of a nationwide pre-school service for children with autism. My Department is currently engaged in developing proposals for this service.