Children born between February 2, 2005, and June 30, 2006, are eligible to avail of free pre-schooling from participating preschool providers, starting in January 2010 and continuing up to the end of June 2010. Up to 4,000 service providers nationwide have registered for the initiative with the Office of the Minister for Children.

Now, parents have been given an extra week - until January 29 - to sign up for the free preschool scheme.

Children's Minister Barry Andrews said his decision to extend the registration period was based on the possible difficulties caused by the weather for parents wishing to sign up for the scheme.  But service providers claim there has been a very low level of uptake for the scheme because of confusion over the criteria.

"To be clear," said Jillian van Turnhout, chief executive of the Children's Alliance:

• Children born between February 2, 2005, and June 30, 2006, will qualify for free preschool starting this month (January 2010).
• Children born between February 2, 2006, and June 30, 2007, will qualify for the free preschool year starting in September 2010.

"This is an excellent scheme . . . and we would encourage parents to register," Ms van Turnhout added.

Around 65,000 children are eligible to participate in the scheme, which is being introduced at a cost of around €2,400 per child to replace the early childcare supplement previously paid to parents for children up to the age of five-and-a-half.

Meanwhile, there is good news for people working in the pre-school sector: Cogan Preschools has announced that it is opening 28 preschools around Ireland which will lead to the creation of 300 jobs. (Sources: Irish Examiner; Irish Independent)