Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this important matter in my area in the Dublin South-West constituency and I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Brian Lenihan, who has responsibility for quite a number of these issues.

The childhood development initiative is a long-term project that has been put in place by in excess of 23 different organisations, groups and individuals in the Tallaght west area over the past two years. The Taoiseach was in Tallaght west on Monday to formally launch the next phase of the strategy document they published and he saw for himself the significant support which exists for this initiative in the Tallaght west area.

Briefly, this is a ten-year strategy which has been put in place by a large number of people to improve the health, safety and learning experience for children in the Tallaght west area, which is a significant area of Dublin, and west Dublin in particular. It is an area which has almost 8,000 homes most of which are provided by the local authority, a large number of one-parent families and substantial problems of educational disadvantage. It is an area that has worked closely with this initiative to find the best programme to put in place over a ten-year period to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

This initiative is based, not on a whim but on eight separate published reports to date setting out concrete data concerning the different age cohorts in the Tallaght west area. It is also worth noting that their partner in this area is Atlantic Philanthropies, an organisation which has given significant charitable funding to various organisations in this country over recent years. It is a significant partner and the Government is conscious of the fact that this organisation has come behind the childhood development initiative.

The key objective is that children in the area can achieve their potential. It is the same objective that every child in any part of the country would have but because of disadvantage in this community, we must embrace the initiative taken and use this as a pilot project for communities in other areas. It involves the question of child care, the need for safe playing areas, the importance of school attendance and its enforcement and the importance of home support and how parents, and lone parents in particular, can be given support to ensure that their children stay in the formal education sector. Crucially, it also makes provision for after school homework clubs and after school supervision so that parents can grasp the economic opportunities offered by working in the new economy and, therefore, bettering themselves and their families. It also makes provision, as is critical in this area, for surveying the money that will be spent to ensure that the outcomes clearly identified in the strategy document are achieved for children. It is a holistic approach to the first 12 years of a young child's life.

The initial investment for the first three years of the programme is in the order of €15.6 million. The Taoiseach was struck by the professionalism of this initiative and by the considerable community support that exists for it. I ask the Government to continue to give this initiative its support and to meet all of the financial commitments that are being sought in this initiative.

It is fair to say that in terms of child care, there is not one particular Department dealing with this, even though I suspect it is has its origin in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. A number of other Departments also have a relationship with this initiative — the Departments of Education and Science, Health and Children and Social and Family Affairs. We are looking for a co-ordinated positive Government response to the excellent initiative that has come from the ground up in this community. I ask the Minister of State to respond positively to that this evening.