Better Start National Early Years Quality Development is a national initiative of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) collaborating with the Early Years Education Policy Unit of the Department of Education and Skills (DES), to ensure a coordinated approach to early years quality in Ireland.

The Better Start Quality Development Service is an additional resource to support and drive quality improvement. It provides a highly skilled and experienced Early Years Specialist team to work directly in a mentoring capacity with Early Years services. Requests for the service can be made through Dún Laoghaire Rathdown CCC.  Early Years Specialists will be allocated to ECEC services on the basis of availability, skills and experience, as far as possible matching the service profile.