Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If we are really going to deliver the From Poverty to Potential plan, we need to get serious about a multi-agency approach and early intervention must be more than a term we use. That means we will need to see the resources in play. We will be dealing later in this House with the issue of early education and childcare. The likes of Lios na nÓg, Muirhevnamore, will talk about the additional resources they need to stay afloat, particularly because they are dealing with a huge amount of kids presenting with additional needs. I talk about the team project in Muirhevnamore and their after-school project. It is the same in Cox's Demesne. These are projects that are operating in some of the most disadvantaged parts of Dundalk. We need to make things as easy as possible. We need to recognise the work that is being done and make sure we can keep these projects afloat. They are dealing with kids day in, day out, and with multiple levels of projects. I will also mention that there are youth diversion projects being run out of those two centres also. The High Voltage youth diversion programme is one of those pilot early interventions. We need to see that operated across the board. We know we need this to happen as early as possible but we at least need to make sure we keep those projects that are in existence in operation. We can then add those further resources if we want to see real change.

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