Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 271: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the additional funding spent in the targeted areas of disadvantage in the State under the RAPID programme on projects not outlined in the national development plan by her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19926/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The RAPID programme is designed to harness the opportunities and resources of the national development plan through the front loading and prioritisation of investment in the 45 disadvantaged communities (25 urban areas and 20 provincial towns) identified in the programme.

In accordance with the aims of the RAPID programme, my Department endeavours, where possible, to frontload resources to support proposals relating to RAPID areas.

While my Department's response to the RAPID programme is co-ordinated by the Regional Offices Service, which acts as a point of contact between the RAPID Area Implementation Teams and my Department, any expenditure on proposals relating to RAPID are incorporated into the existing budgets of the Department. As a consequence, it is not always possible to identify the exact spend on RAPID to date.

However, my Department's new action plan for educational inclusion — DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) aims to ensure that the educational needs of children and young people, from pre-school to completion of upper second-level education (3 to 18 years) from disadvantaged communities are prioritised and effectively addressed. The new plan will involve an annual investment of some additional €40m on full implementation in 640 primary schools, comprising of 320 urban/town schools and 320 rural schools, and 200 second-level schools.

These will be included in a new School Support Programme (SSP). The SSP will bring together, and build upon, a number of existing interventions for schools and school clusters/ communities with a concentrated level of educational disadvantage. A substantial number of schools selected for the programme are either in, or serving, RAPID communities.