Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 442: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will make provision from her Department to a group (details supplied) in County Galway to enable them to fund the Young Mothers in Education project in view of the good work that is being carried out by the project which involves more than 60 young mothers and whose continuing of their education will be put in jeopardy without the support of the project. [4504/08]

Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Question 465: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her Department will approve funding for a project (details supplied) in County Galway; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4665/08]

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 442 and 465 together.

In assessing applications for funding, consideration is given to Department supported interventions already in place in the areas concerned so as to avoid duplication of effort and resource. My Department currently supports the educational element of eight Teenage Parenting Support Projects under the Health Services Executive's Teenage Parenting Support Initiative in Galway, Limerick, Louth, Coolock, Donegal, Carlow, Cork and Dublin and it would be inappropriate to support a second initiative in an area which provides a similar service to the same target group.

Funding has been committed in 2008 to the 8 Teenage Parenting Support projects as a specific gender element of the School Completion Programme under DEIS in preventing early school leaving among teenage mothers. Links have been established between local School Completion projects in these areas, assisted by the SCP National Coordination Team and the Teenage Parenting Support Initiative Coordinators. The aim of these projects is to enable young women who are pregnant and young mothers to stay in second level education and to progress on to third level education or training. The Project does this by providing individual support, information and grinds where necessary. Young people participating in Teen Parenting Support Programmes are targeted in-school, out-of-school and in higher /further education, giving them the opportunity to reach their full potential through continued participation in education and training. This will improve their life opportunities and reduce the likelihood of the young family experiencing poverty and social exclusion and being long-term dependants on state support.

My Department also received an application on behalf of the project in question to be considered for funding in 2008 under the Special Projects for Youth Scheme funded by my Department. Pending completion of the 2008 funding allocations process, and owing to budgetary constraints and the high level of existing commitments in the youth work sector, I am not in a position to make any commitments with regard to funding in this case.