Dear Early Learning and Care Providers,

As we approach the Christmas break, we wish to assure all service providers and the families you work with that teams across Pobal and Better Start continue to work diligently to ensure prompt, professional and quality services across the AIM Programme.

As you are aware, a percentage of Better Start, Early Years Specialists (EYSs) have been participating in industrial action. Over the last number of months, the priority for both Pobal and Better Start management has been the continuation of services and support, with minimal impact to early learning and care providers, children and families during this period.

To ensure continuity of service with minimum disruption to early learning and care providers, children and families in the sector, Pobal has continued to put appropriate mitigations in place. To that end, we wish to reassure you of the following:

AIM Level 7 Applications: Applications will continue to be processed, based on the information provided as part of the child’s access and inclusion profile and AIM Level 7 application. Application processing times remain stable, and we aim to keep disruption and delays to a minimum.

All AIM guidance including the AIM Programme rules 2025/2026 is available on the Early Years Hive here.

AIM Level 4: As part of AIM Level 4, the Better Start AIM Early Years Specialists will continue to provide expert educational advice and mentoring to Early Learning and Care settings.

AIM Level 7 Review and Confirm: Please note that the closing date for submitting an AIM Level 7 Review and Confirm application for the 2025/2026 programme call is 12 December 2025. If a child at your service had an approved AIM Level 7 application during the 2024/2025 programme call, you must submit an AIM Level 7 Review and Confirm application by 12 December 2025. All applications must be submitted through the Early Years Hive. You can find a guide for submitting an AIM Level 7 Review and Confirm application here.

As always, the Early Years Provider Centre (EYPC) remains the first point of contact for assistance. The EYPC team can offer support on new and existing queries. All enquiries will be responded to as soon as possible.

If you have any queries on specific applications during this time, please continue to submit a request on the Early Years Hive or contact the Early Years Provider Centre (EYPC) on 01 5117222.

We understand that parents / guardians, if they are aware of the Industrial Relations issue, may have concerns, and we want to ensure they receive clear and consistent information. To support service providers, we have provided a short message (detailed below) which you may share directly with parents / guardians.

Our priority remains to support children, families, and providers with as little disruption as possible.