Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 484: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the supports, funding or otherwise which a project (details supplied) has received from her Department in view of the positive educative role being carried out in supplying a breakfast club, a service for early school leavers including children with special educational needs and foreign nationals and the holistic development of young people in the community facility; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37584/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Funding was allocated by my Department to the project referred to by the Deputy in 2000 and 2001 under the Fund for the Development of Targeted Educational Responses to Certain Children at Risk with further funding of €10,000 sanctioned in 2004 and €12,500 in 2005 under my Department's Special Projects for Youth Scheme. An application for mainstream funding was submitted by the project in 2005 but was not successful on that occasion.

Application forms for the 2007 grants issued to Administering Agencies, in this instance, Co. Dublin VEC and this project has been invited to re-apply for funding. The project's application will be given full consideration, in the context of the overall budgetary provision to the Youth Sector for 2007.

In assessing applications for funding, consideration must be given to Department interventions already in place in order to avoid duplication of effort and resources.

There are 6 School Completion Programme Projects in Tallaght, comprising 6 post-primary and 21 primary schools with an allocation in excess of €1.3 million for 2006/2007 which includes a project site in Jobstown. The School Completion Programme directly targets those in danger of dropping out of the education system and is a key component of my Department's strategy to discriminate positively in favour of children and young people who are at risk of early school leaving, and in line with current thinking favours an integrated cross-community and cross-sectoral approach based on the development of local strategies to ensure maximum participation levels in the education process. It entails targeting individual young people aged 4 — 18, both in and out of school, and arranging supports to address inequalities in education access, participation and outcomes.

The new action plan for Educational Inclusion, DEIS, (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) which is being introduced on a phased basis — starting during the current school year — 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. Each of the 873 schools participating in the new School Support Programme will have access to a range of academic supports such as one to one, small group tuition, literacy/numeracy and curricular supports, individual learning plans, revision and study skills courses and non-academic supports such as sports/recreational/ extra-curricular activities, clubs & meal provision, after school supports including homework support and holiday time supports.

1 Post Primary school and 3 Primary schools in Jobstown have been invited to participate in the School Support Programme under DEIS.