Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 489: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the amount spent on specific supports addressing educational disadvantage in 2006 with a breakdown of the costs for each support; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8667/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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A key focus of the Government's education policy is to prioritise investment in favour of those most at risk and to optimise access, participation and outcomes at every level of the system for disadvantaged groups.

The wide variety of measures in place for tackling educational disadvantage and social exclusion reflect these concerns. These measures range from pre-school interventions, supports for tackling children's literacy problems, reduced pupil teacher ratios, increased capitation grants, measures to tackle early school leaving and strengthen ties between the school, the family and the community. In addition, there are interventions in support of youth, access to third-level and in providing "second chance education" for young people and adults.

The total provision for educational inclusion programmes in 2006 was more than €640m across all levels of education. The total provision for educational inclusion programmes in the 2007 is nearly €730 million across all levels of education. This represents an increase of nearly €90 million on the comparable 2006 figure. This includes additional funding for the implementation of measures under the DEIS action plan at pre-school, primary and second-level, additional funding for further education programmes and an increase in provision for third-level student support schemes.

DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools), the new action plan for educational inclusion that I launched last year, will focus on addressing the educational needs of children and young people from disadvantaged communities, from pre-school through second-level education (3 to 18 years).

The new action plan represents a shift in emphasis away from individual initiatives, each addressing a particular aspect of the problem, with the new plan adopting a multi-faceted and more integrated approach. This is the first time that an integrated educational inclusion strategy has been developed for 3-18 year olds in this country.

The key principle of early intervention underpins both the early childhood education measure and many of the literacy and numeracy measures being adopted under the new action plan. The plan will place a renewed emphasis on the involvement of parents and families in children's education in schools.

The action plan will be implemented on a phased basis over five years and will involve an additional annual investment of some €40m on full implementation. It will also involve the creation of about 300 additional posts across the education system.