Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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1. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs his Department's plans to ensure that the area based childhood programme remains fully resourced and funded for the upcoming number of years. [27466/15]

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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As the Minister is aware, the current area based childhood, ABC, programme is jointly funded through his Department and Atlantic Philanthropies. The funding provided by Atlantic Philanthropies is due to expire later this year and I would welcome a statement from the Minister today in regard to how he plans to ensure this critical early intervention programme is maintained and strengthened in the years ahead.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his question.

The area based childhood, ABC, programme is an innovative prevention and early intervention initiative. It consists of committed funding for an area based approach to improve outcomes for children and thereby reduce child poverty. The programme builds on and continues the work of the Prevention and Early Intervention Programme 2007-2013, which was co-funded by my Department and Atlantic Philanthropies.

The ABC programme involves joint investment from my Department and Atlantic Philanthropies of €29.7 million in evidence-informed interventions to improve the long-term outcomes for children and families living in disadvantaged areas. It aims to break the cycle of child poverty within areas where it is most deeply entrenched and where children are most disadvantaged through integrated and effective services and interventions in the areas of child development, child well-being, parenting and educational disadvantage.

The ABC programme is time bound and the co-funding arrangement between the Government and Atlantic Philanthropies is in place until 2017. A key purpose of the ABC programme is to identify the learning in, and across, the ABC sites and to transfer this learning into existing and established services. Adopting such a systems focus, rather than merely a site or geographic specific focus, is the intention so that we can ensure a greater reach and sustained impact in services across the country. What I want to ensure is that, rather than creating parallel provision, the learning from this programme informs the ongoing reform of established services and supports for children and young people. Mainstreaming the learning in this way will bring improvements, not only in specific areas, but across the wider system, thereby addressing all areas of disadvantage. A task group has been established to explore how best to mainstream the learning where programmes and activities have proven more effective than existing provision.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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We visited Oberstown recently and when we look at how much it costs to keep a child in detention, over €300,000 per year, or at the €150,000 per year it costs to keep a child in residential care, it is clear that not only is investment in prevention and early intervention in the best interest of the child, but it is in the best interest of the taxpayer.

We are all acutely aware of, and agreed on, the importance of early intervention in terms of how it shapes a child's life and development. However, people are concerned about the Minister's and the Government's commitment towards maintaining critical investment in this area into the future. This is the reason the group Hands Up for Children has formed. Its aim is to ensure there is a universal response on early intervention. In some instances, there is a need for additional resources and targeted initiatives. The ABC programme has proved very effective and I would like a clear commitment that it will be continued in the future.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy has pointed out, prevention is much better than cure, and I have always been a strong proponent of that. Evidence based interventions are critical and because of constraints on our budget, we want to ensure the money we spend delivers the results we seek. What we are looking for here are better outcomes for children and to address the issue of those who face disadvantage, particularly educationally.

The ABC programme - the second of its type following the programmes implementation platform, PIP - is currently being evaluated under the guidance of an expert advisory group. The evaluation adopts a shared measurement framework across all ABC programme sites. The evaluation will consider the implementation and cost of programmes and, crucially, how the outcomes for children and families in area based childhood areas have changed during the course of the programme. This evaluation will be crucial for indicating the impact of the ABC programme, along with the work of the task group. It will be a key factor in informing considerations regarding the mainstreaming of the learning from the programme.

The key point is that these programmes are used to identify improved ways of delivering a service and getting better outcomes and then mainstreaming the learning so that the improvement is not just in the specific areas where the programme has been tried out, but can be applied across the wider system, thereby addressing all areas.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I could not agree more that it is not simply about the ABC programme, but about a much broader approach to the issues facing so many children. The ABC programme provides a range of services, addressing child development, child well-being, parenting, educational disadvantage and more. Therefore, it is important it is rolled out on a wider scale. However, this will require greater resources.

The current funding is time limited, because Atlantic Philanthropies is about to pull out. The Minister has said an evaluation is in progress. When will that evaluation be completed and when complete will it form part of the interdepartmental group's current study on the accessibility and affordability of child care? Will it feed into that? What are the Minister's plans in terms of ensuring prevention and early intervention measures are rolled out nationally in the future? The Minister is correct that it is about getting value for money. As I said earlier, when we consider that it costs between €300,000 and €350,000 to keep one child in detention facilities, the money spent on prevention and early intervention is money better spent.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I agree with the Deputy regarding prevention, not just in terms of value for money in the context of the money saved, but in terms of offering something invaluable, namely, a better outcome for a child, a fuller life, a better educational achievement and a better standard of living for the child and his or her family.

The evaluation is critical because it will form part of how this programme is mainstreamed. It will also inform what new programmes should be put in place to continue the process of evaluating, learning and reforming. This is critical.

The Deputy has rightly touched on the need for strong, evidence-based policy so that this can be put to the Departments of Public Expenditure and Reform and Finance during the Estimates process, when more funding is sought for programmes that we can show will yield the dividend we seek.