Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an gCeann Comhairle as ucht cead a thabhairt domsa an t-ábhar seo a thabhairt roimh an Dáil. Since 2001, the Village Project has served the Finglas and Ballymun area by providing assessment services. It was set up under the auspices of the probation and welfare service of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The detrimental effects which the proposed change to this service will have on young people in my constituency must be addressed.

As the Minister of State is aware, the Village Project was established in 2001 by the probation and welfare service. It was a pilot project to provide assessments for children between the ages of 12 and 16 years from the Finglas and Ballymun areas who were referred by the courts. It was set up as a response to the identified need for a community-based assessment service that provided an alternative to the residential centres in existence. The project was originally a co-operative venture between the Department of Education and Science and the probation and welfare service and was funded under the children at risk fund until April 2004.

Since its inception, the project has been extremely successful. A total of 84 young people have undergone assessment up to May 2005. To date, 82 young people have completed their assessments and of this number, a total of 79 have returned to either mainstream schools, alternative educational settings or are in employment. The financial efficacy of the project is apparent when one considers that in 2002, it cost up to €250,000 to detain a young person in a residential placement while it cost €320,000 to assess 20 young people in the Village Project centre.

In April 2004 there was a change in policy and practice. Funding and responsibility for the project were transferred wholly to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and placed under the auspices of the probation and welfare service. Although the service had availed of the services of the project since 2001, it adopted this new responsibility with a view to the project fulfilling its role under the Children Act 2001. The probation and welfare service has the responsibility of establishing and developing day centres under the Act with a view to conducting assessments with the community of children aged between 16 and 17 who are on remand. It indicated its desire for the Village Project specifically to fulfil this role in this area.

Before I continue, I wish to provide an outline of the referrals to the project. A total of 19 young people attended the Village Project as a consequence of criminal justice matters and five of the 19 are in detention schools or institutions for young offenders. The remainder continue to be under the supervision of the probation and welfare service and most of them maintain some level of contact with the Village Project. All the young people who attended the project because of criminal justice matters are male.

In addition, between 2004 and 2005, five mini-assessments have been conducted on behalf of the probation and welfare service. These consisted of a psycho-educational assessment as well as or instead of an offending risk assessment and were conducted with young people from outside the Dublin 9 and Dublin 11 areas or for whom a full assessment was not required. Ongoing contact with the majority of probation and welfare referrals has been prevalent with many of these young people visiting the project on a weekly basis. Additionally, contact has been maintained with these young people who are in detention via telephone contact and-or visits to either detention schools or young offenders institutions.

Although the probation and welfare service had availed of the services of the project since 2001, it recently adopted the new responsibility under the Children Act. The probation and welfare service has the responsibility of developing and establishing day centres under the Act with a view to conducting assessments of children aged between 16 and 17 years. I am aware that up to 11 of those centres are proposed countrywide.

The implications of the change in direction will have a detrimental effect on the current services provided by the centre. It is now apparent that for the project to continue while simultaneously meeting the funding obligations of its exclusive funding source, that is, the probation and welfare service, it must change its core objectives and, consequently, the type of service it provides.

Given these new circumstances, the board of the Village Project has had to make the difficult decision no longer to accept new referrals for assessment from the courts from Monday, 20 June. Rather, the project must now focus on the development of its role as a day centre and deliver services purely to the clients of the probation and welfare service. This will mean that young people from 12 to 16 years of age will no longer be able to avail of the service. Educational welfare officers, schools and projects will have nowhere to refer children for comprehensive assessments. The positive changes brought about by this project will not continue to develop and further detention of this younger age group could be the result.

I request the Minister to review the situation and ensure the Village Project can continue to meet the needs of the community in which it operates. As I stated, many 12 to 16 year olds and their families have benefited greatly from the service and it would be a travesty if changes to funding sources dictated that this successful scheme was not allowed to continue into the future. I recognise the need of 16 and 17 year olds will be addressed with these changes but this should not be to the detriment of services for younger people.

There is much concern among education practitioners, in particular, in the area. In the course of correspondence from the chairperson of the project to the chief executive officer of the National Education Welfare Board, it was indicated that the likelihood of alternative assessment arrangements being available in the short term was unlikely. It was suggested, therefore, that the board would engage in consultations with the probation and welfare service to see how a modification of the decision could be made.

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta agus tugaim freagra thar cheann an Aire.

The probation and welfare service operates under the aegis of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. It has approximately 430 staff and an annual budget of approximately €45 million. It provides assessments on offenders to the courts and is responsible for the proposal and implementation of community sanctions. It also provides a probation service to prisons. The service funds and works in association with 75 voluntary bodies or projects in the provision of relevant services. The objective of the service is to reduce reoffending and protect the public.

The Village Project was established in 2001 as a pilot project to provide assessments for children between the ages of 12 and 16 years referred by the courts from the Finglas and Ballymun areas. The project was a co-operative venture between the Department of Education and Science and the probation and welfare service. Initially, it was funded under the children at risk fund in the Department of Education and Science. Following a request from the Department of Education and Science, the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform commenced funding the project on 1 January 2004. Since 1 January 2004, 21 males and 12 females have been assessed.

The probation and welfare service has the responsibility of establishing and developing day centres under the Children Act 2001 with a view to conducting assessments of juveniles who are on remand within the community and it has indicated its desire for the project to fulfil this role. It may also provide an assessment service to referrals from other relevant State and community-based services when resources allow.

The Village Project's board of directors has been considering the implications of this change of direction for a number of months and now accepts that for the viability of the project and to meet funding obligations, it must change its core objectives and, consequently, the type of service it provides. To meet the needs of the probation and welfare service client group and to replicate the requirements of the day centre order as outlined in the Children Act 2001, the Village Project will require some considerable modification. The project is now focusing on the development of its role as a day centre and delivering services to the clients of the probation and welfare service.