Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to address the House on this important issue. I am delighted the Minister of State is present to listen to this sensible proposal. I hope the Government will provide funding for a very worthwhile pre-school education project. Preparing for Life is a plan to enable children to be ready for school. Fewer than half the children living in disadvantaged communities are ready for school at four and five years. A poor start at school stacks up problems later in childhood and into adulthood.

Several Government initiatives focus on enabling children to be better prepared for life. A group working on the north side of Dublin has prepared an excellent plan to make the most of existing resources and increase the proportion of children ready for school. The plan seeks to turn good intentions into practical ideas, which, if proved to be successful, could be implemented in other parts of the country.

The plan has many unique aspects. It seeks to address the needs of children at each stage of development from conception to the day they go to school. It works with parents as children grow up showing how improvements in children's well-being eases stress on families. Moreover rather than claiming that it has the answer, rigorous evaluation will be an integral part of the plan. The people involved aim to discover which of their ideas work before recommending that they be taken up elsewhere. The plan also sets out the way in which the preparing for life group set about finding new ways of getting more children born into three very disadvantaged communities better prepared for school each year. The plans also connect not only to improve the well-being of children in the area but also to demonstrate possible courses of action for other disadvantaged communities in Ireland and elsewhere in Europe.

Approximately 7,000 people live in these communities and the proportion of children aged 14 or less is twice that of Ireland as a whole and the number of children under one year is also elevated. Approximately 70% of the families live in houses rented or being purchased from the local authority, which is up to three times higher than the national average. While unemployment has reduced by approximately 45% in the past five years, approximately one in nine adults are still out of work. Drug dealing, safe play areas for children, clubs for teenagers and tackling so-called joy-riding are among the primary concerns for parents in the community.

Only 12% of the children in this area continue to third level, which is less than a quarter of the national average. To make matters worse more than two fifths of children leave school by their 15th birthday compared with less than one fifth nationally. Problems with heating, damp, fixtures and fittings are experienced in 56% of the houses. More than 55% of the children do not go to bed before 8 p.m. Some 26% of the children displayed significant problems with conduct before starting school. One in five children has major health and eating difficulties. Some 31% of children starting school last year had missed ten or more days by the end of March.

Sadly 52% of the children in these communities were not ready for primary school when they commenced. School readiness is the critical stepping-stone to well being in childhood and into adulthood. There is strong evidence that this lack of readiness contributes to significant behaviour problems in school, which tends to de-motivate teachers and adversely affects other pupils. Lack of readiness greatly disadvantages children's learning resulting in them frequently arriving at secondary school with significant reading, writing and attention deficits. By this pathway problems in the first few months of primary school eventually contribute to higher levels of school dropout which in turn leads to lower levels of university attendance and lower income levels among children born into disadvantaged areas.

I urge the Minister of State to consider the proposals of this worthwhile group. I commend and thank those directly involved, including Noel Kelly and the northside partnership team for their excellent work. While this plan is about children, education and quality of life, it is also about preventing children from becoming at risk later in life. It will assist in preventing them getting involved in drugs and ending up in our prisons. Above all the plan is about creating a positive future for disadvantaged children. I urge the Minister of State to listen to the proposal when it comes on stream in coming weeks.

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Tréaslaím leis an Teachta as an samhradh iontach a bhí aige ar an chlár teilifíse — chaith mé féin agus mo chlann cupla vóta ar a shon.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Go raibh maith agat.

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the opportunity to outline the Government's approach to promoting greater social inclusion by prioritising investment in education in disadvantaged areas. The wide variety of measures in place at local level throughout the country for tackling educational disadvantage range from pre-school interventions, supports for tackling children's literacy problems, reduced pupil teacher ratios, increased capitation grants and measures to tackle early school leaving and strengthen ties between the school, the family and the community. In addition, there are interventions in support of youth and in providing second chance education for young people and adults.

Under the new action plan for educational inclusion launched by the Minister for Education and Science last May, further investment is being targeted at young people at risk to help them to make the most of the educational opportunities available to them. The DEIS, delivering equality of opportunity in schools, plan provides for a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage and a new integrated school support programme which will bring together and build upon a number of existing interventions for schools with a concentrated level of disadvantage. Approximately 600 primary schools, comprising 300 urban-town and 300 rural and 150 second level schools will be included in the school support programme. The new action plan will be introduced on a phased basis, starting in the current school year, and will involve an additional annual investment of €40 million on full implementation. It will also involve the provision of some 300 additional posts across the education system.

A key underlying principle of DEIS is that of early intervention, including assisting children who are having difficulty learning to read and write at an early stage before the problem becomes entrenched. Key measures to be implemented on a phased basis over the next five years include targeted early childhood education provision for 150 urban-town school communities allowing increased access to literacy and numeracy support initiatives and extended availability of home-school-community liaison and school completion programme services. The 150 urban-town primary schools with the highest concentrations of disadvantage will be targeted to benefit from maximum class sizes of 20:1 in junior classes and 24:1 in senior classes. Rural primary schools participating in the new school support programme will be targeted to benefit from access to a teacher or co-ordinator serving a cluster of schools. Measures will be implemented to enhance student attendance, educational progression, retention and attainment. Measures will be put in place to support the recruitment and retention of principals and teaching staff in schools serving disadvantaged communities. Professional development for principals, teachers and other personnel in schools participating in the SSP will be enhanced.

The action plan will also focus on greater integration of services and improved co-operation and partnership working both within the education sector itself and between the Department of Education and Science and all other relevant Departments and agencies at both national and local level. Priorities will include seeking to expand and develop areas of mutual co-operation with other Departments and agencies on, for example, early childhood education and care, nutrition and health, and literacy and numeracy. The involvement of students, parents, local communities and agencies operating at local level will be an important dimension of the overall planning process for schools in the new school support programme.

Also central to the success of the action plan will be an increased emphasis on planning at school and school cluster level, target setting and measurement of progress and outcomes to ensure that the increased investment is matched by an improvement in educational outcomes for the children and young people concerned. I am confident that the extra supports being put in place will make a real difference to the lives of young people in disadvantaged areas.

With regard to the Preparing for Life proposal that the Deputy asked about, I have been informed by the Minister for Education and Science that her Department's regional office service met the education co-ordinator of the northside partnership on a number of occasions and has provided advice on the development of the proposal. I understand that the proposal is intended to address the needs of children at each stage of their development to better prepare them for school, and that it involves mentoring and group training for parents to improve their skills, esteem and aspirations for their children. The proposers intend that the project will result in improved physical and psychological health and better educational outcomes for children at key stages in their development to the point of reception in school. I understand that the proposal will shortly be presented formally to the Department and that at that stage, it will be assessed in terms of how it can fit in with the Department's overall programmes to address educational disadvantage.

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to outline just some of the work that is being done in the area of tackling educational disadvantage at present and our plans to extend this further.