Written answers

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

Department of Education and Skills

Departmental Programmes

Photo of John DeasyJohn Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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194. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the funding programmes that are available from his Department to assist projects involving youth diversion and rehabilitation; and to whom should applications for State support be directed in each instance. [6327/14]

Photo of Ruairi QuinnRuairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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There are no funding programmes available from my Department designed to directly assist projects involved in youth diversion and rehabilitation and therefore no application process for such support.

In addition to funding overall mainstream provision for education my Department also provides funding of some €4million across a number of projects and centres to provide for continuum of education and to facilitate ongoing engagment with and retention of children in education. Such supports include:Youth Encounter Projects, established in the 1970s as non-residential facilities for children at risk of coming into conflict with authority or are at serious risk of dropping out of mainstream school. There are five YEPS, three in Dublin and one each in Limerick and Cork, providing 120 places for children. The current overall enrolment is 107. YEPs receive a pay and non-pay allocation of €1.124 million to cover the employment of all ancillary staff and to cover school running costs. Permanent teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) in the school are paid through the Primary and SNA Payroll system at an overall cost of €1.85million.

City Motor Sports, Swift Alleys, Francis Street, Dublin 8, provides education and training for young people aged between 15 and 18 years. It was established in 1995 as City Motor Sports in the south west inner city as a response to widespread joyriding in the locality. The current enrolment is 14. My Department funds the cost of 51 teaching hours per week at a total cost of €90,375 in 2012 and provides a non-pay grant of €113,479 to City of Dublin ETB to meet running costs.

The Carline Project is located in a purpose built centre, in Lucan, Co Dublin. It caters for young people aged 14 to 17 years. The current enrolment is 22. My Department funds the cost of 71 teaching hours per week at a total cost of €141,787 in 2012 and provides a non-pay grant of €170,000 to County Dublin and Dun Laoghaire ETB to meet running costs. Life Centres are informal education centres established by the Christian Brothers in 1996, with the assistance of the Holy Faith Sisters, as a response to the needs of young people who have dropped out of mainstream education. There are two Life Centres in Dublin and Cork which receive a grant of €114,000 towards running costs and 2,768 teaching hours under the ETB co-operation hours scheme at an estimated cost of €233,000.

Matt Talbot Adolescent Service Centre in Co Cork provides residential drug and alcohol treatment for 14-18 year old boys. It provides educational courses at Junior and Leaving Certificate Level, ECDL and FETAC Levels 3 and 4. My Department provides €190,000, through Cork ETB, towards the cost of instruction staff at the centre

In addition my Department funds the Youthreach programme which provides two years integrated education, training and work experience for unemployed early school leavers with incomplete qualifications or vocational training who are between 15 and 20 years of age. There are almost 6,000 places available nationwide under the Youthreach. Almost 3,700 of these places are provided by ETBs in just over 100 Youthreach centres. Expenditure in the region of €68 million was provided for this service in 2012. The majority of the remainder of places are provided by FÁS in Community Training Centres which also provides two years integrated education, training and work experience incorporating basic skills training, practical work training and general education with the application of new technology integrated into all aspects of programme content. The overall cost for this service in 2012 amounted to some €43.3million.

A small portion of the overall funding in Youthreach includes provision for under 16's. At the end of December 2012 the number of learners under 16 enrolled in Youthreach Centers and Community Training Centres were 192 and 43 respectively.

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