Children & Young Peoples Services Committee (CYPSC)
- Published: 22 September 2017
The scheme provides for a LEAP card for all children attending school from 4 up to 19 years of age. One adult card will be given to a parent/guardian per family. LEAP cards will have €150 of credit on them. Children between the ages of 4 and 16 will be issued with a Child Leap Card that will be expected to last a minimum of 10 weeks. Children over 16 and parents will be issued with an Adult Leap Card that will be expected to last a minimum of 3.5 weeks. New cards can be issued after these designated time periods.
Unfortunately, not all families have access to family support teams. The five Dublin Children and Young People’s Services Committees (South Dublin, Dublin City South, Dublin City North, Fingal and Dún Laoghaire) are assisting with this to ensure that all families living in homelessness have access to LEAP cards that will assist in getting their children to school. CYPSCs are uniquely placed to play a communication role in supporting the take-up of this scheme with representatives from the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN), National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals, (NAPD) and Educational Welfare Services all sitting on their committees. The CYPSCs also have ongoing engagement with Focus Ireland.
The CYPSCs are aware that this is an issue that has impacted students of schools throughout the country. As such, schools have been identified as key stakeholder for this scheme and it is hoped that they will be able to assist families in applying for LEAP cards.
Dublin CYPSC Coordinators will be in touch with their IPPN representatives with details of the scheme before it goes live at end of September.
