The Department of Education are consulting on the Socially Disadvantaged Circumstances (SDC) Criterion. The SDC criterion was first introduced to prioritise access to pre-school places for those children likely to benefit from it most. The Minister of Education has since effectively removed this prioritisation.
This consultation is seeking views on two options relating to the future prioritisation of children from SDC:
- Option one: DE Guidance: Put pre-schools on par with primary and post-primary settings, providing individual settings with full control to set all their own admissions criteria, taking into account guidance provided by the Department; or
- Option two: New Legislation: Make legislation to impose a new statutory criterion on all funded pre-school education settings to prioritise children from Socially Disadvantaged Circumstances (SDC) above all others in their admissions criteria.
Siobhán has already held a focus group to discuss the issues around the SDC criterion. If anyone wishes to contribute further please contact Siobhán as soon as possible.
The deadline for responses to this consultation is 4th December 2026 and the consultation is available to read here.
