Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 298: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will confirm plans to provide significant funding to the childhood development initiative (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30455/06]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Prevention and Early Intervention Programme for Children was established by Government to support and promote better outcomes for children in disadvantaged areas, through more innovation, effective planning, integration and delivery of services. The purpose of the programme is to support the development of plans for children at local level drawn up by the statutory and relevant non-statutory agencies operating in the areas concerned. The Programme will provide for the introduction and evaluation of a range of integrated interventions for children and their families and test if they make a positive difference to children. The focus of the programme is on supporting proposals for interventions, which fit with national policy objectives, have been developed in conjunction with the local community, are based on clear evidence of local need and which are informed by evidence of 'what works'. Learning and evaluation are important components of the programme and individual services, area projects and the overall programme will be subject to ongoing and robust review and evaluation. The programme will run for an initial three-year period and will have a fund amounting to €36 million in total, half of which will be provided by Government and half by The Atlantic Philanthropies.

The Government agreed that the best use of this funding was to focus initially on a small number of projects in severely disadvantaged communities. Three areas are being targeted during this period, subject to assessment of plans submitted. These have been identified as areas of severe disadvantage with a strong community commitment to improving outcomes for children. Research and planning on prevention and early intervention measures sponsored by Atlantic Philanthropies, has been undertaken over the last two years in these areas and they are now in an excellent position to test new models of service delivery. If these models prove successful, the results of these projects may provide the basis for enhanced resource allocation processes and policy changes.

My Office recently invited three projects to submit the details of their projects for consideration for funding under the Programme, one of which was the Childhood Development Initiative in Tallaght West. These project proposals are currently being examined and my officials will be meeting with the projects in the next week to discuss the submissions. The plans will then be assessed by an International Expert Panel against criteria agreed between Government and Atlantic Philanthropies. The allocation of the funding will follow this extensive evaluation. Assuming the applications are successful, it is expected that some funding will be drawn down before year end.