Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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Question 777: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if a school (details supplied) in County Kerry will be considered as a base school for its cluster as part of DEIS; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10506/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Some 320 rural primary schools have been invited to participate in the new school support programme under the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools programme. The Department of Education and Science is considering the arrangements to be made for the clustering of the 320 rural schools under the school support programme and other rural schools retaining their entitlements under previous programmes for 2006-07. Schools will be notified of the proposed arrangements in due course.

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 778: To ask the Minister for Education and Science when a school (details supplied) in Dublin 11 can expect to be given approval for the provision of quality early education under the DEIS initiative; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10511/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Under the new action plan for educational inclusion, Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, 640 primary schools — 320 urban schools and 320 rural schools — and 200 second level schools have been selected to participate in the school support programme, which will bring together and build on existing interventions for schools and school communities with a concentrated level of disadvantage. Letters of invitation to participate in the support programme issued to these schools on 24 February last.

The 320 urban primary schools involved in the support programme have been categorised into two bands: band 1 includes the first 180 urban primary schools identified for inclusion in the programme; and band 2 includes the next 140 such schools. Early childhood education provision is a key element of Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools. It is intended to concentrate actions on children aged three or over who have not yet been enrolled in school but will attend the 180 schools in band 1.

The school to which the Deputy refers qualifies for inclusion in band 1 of the support programme. Actions relating to early childhood education will build on existing provision and will be developed on a phased basis over the five-year implementation period of the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools action plan. The Department will work with other Departments and agencies to complement and add value to existing child care programmes in disadvantaged communities, with a view to ensuring that the overall care and education needs of the children concerned are met in an integrated manner.

In December 2005, the Office of the Minister for Children was established to maximise the co-ordination of policies for children and young people. The office will have a range of functions which were previously under the aegis of the Departments of Health and Children, Justice, Equality and Law Reform and Education and Science. A new early years education policy unit has been established in the Department of Health and Children and will be located within the Office of the Minister for Children. The unit will oversee the preparation of plans for the phased implementation of the early childhood education dimension of Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools in the targeted school communities, starting in the next school year. It will be pursued within an overall strategic policy framework developed by the Office of the Minister for Children.