Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

211. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs when a decision will issue on an application under the area-based response to Child Poverty Programme 2013-2016 (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52319/13]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Last week, with my colleague the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Mr. Eamonn Gilmore T.D., I announced that an additional nine areas have been selected to enter the design stage of the Area-Based Childhood (ABC) Programme 2013-2016, in line with a key Programme for Government commitment.

This brings the total number of areas that will participate in the ABC programme to 13, as three existing projects which participated in a forerunner Prevention and Early Intervention Programme (PEIP) in Tallaght, Ballymun and Darndale were approved for entry earlier this year and a further project, linked to the existing ‘Preparing for Life’ project in Darndale, is also being included.

The evaluation process, which included consideration of 50 proposals, was undertaken by a Working Group of the Project Team which was set up in February of this year to oversee the implementation of the new programme. The Project Team is chaired by my Department and includes representatives from seven other Government Departments, our co-funders The Atlantic Philanthropies as well as two organisations, Pobal and the Centre for Effective Services, which have been designated to manage the programme on behalf of my Department.

Under the evaluation process, the Galway Early Education proposal was not deemed to have scored sufficiently highly against the programme criteria to be invited to proceed at this point to the next stage of development and design work. While the ranking was good, it was not, I regret, sufficiently high to be among the proposals selected in what was a very competitive process. The conclusions of the Project Team have been noted by the Government.

As the Galway Early Education proposal was one of a number that showed promise against the criteria set for the programme, my Department has invited Galway Early Education to continue to work in association with it by participating in a mentoring programme in the implementation of evidence-based programmes to improve outcomes for children and young people. My Department will develop the mentoring programme during 2014 in conjunction with the Centre for Effective Services and will be in contact with Galway Early Education then.