Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 400: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the extent of the support of her Department to a project (details supplied) in Dublin 11; the overall commitment of her Department to same in view of the correspondence; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28271/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The project to which the Deputy is referring was established in 2001 as a pilot project to provide assessments for children between the ages of 12 and 16 years from the Finglas and Ballymun areas of the northside of Dublin who had been referred by the courts. The project was a co-operative venture between my Department and the probation and welfare service of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. It was funded as an interim measure, under the children at risk fund of my Department up to December 2003, when funding and responsibility for it was transferred to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and placed under the auspices of the probation and welfare service. The service has adopted this responsibility with a view to the project fulfilling a role under the Children Act 2001. The service has the responsibility of establishing and developing day centres under the Act and it has indicated its desire for the project to fulfil this role.

In this regard, the board of directors of the project has considered how best to meet its funding obligations and type of service it could provide as a day centre. As was originally intended when funding was made available to it in 2001, the project will, in future, cater mainly for children on whom a request has been made by the courts to the probation and welfare service for a probation officer's report. It may also provide a service to referrals from other relevant State and community based services, when resources allow, and it will also be open to children who have had contact with the project in the past to attend occasionally where this is considered to be in the best interest of the children concerned.

My Department will continue to provide for a range of educational disadvantage initiatives which successfully operate in the Finglas and Ballymun areas of Dublin, including the disadvantaged areas scheme, Giving Children An Even Break, Breaking the Cycle and the Early Start programmes. There are also two successful school completion programmes in these areas, with a financial allocation of €752,000 in 2005, which aim to prevent early school leaving and support young people with characteristics and behaviour that are indicative of risk.