Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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101. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will acknowledge the very positive work of the school completion programme in supporting disadvantaged children in disadvantaged schools; the level of the 6.5% cuts that the SCP have been subject to, in percentage terms, in monetary terms, per county, and in tabular form over the past five years; the proposed cuts to the SCP as laid out in the comprehensive expenditure report 2012-2014 that will cease in December 2014; if he will detail the approved budget allocation for the SCP for 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43380/14]

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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102. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the funding that will be provided for the school completion programme in 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43451/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 101 and 102 together.

The School Completion Programme aims to retain young people in the formal education system to completion of senior cycle and to generally improve the school attendance, participation and retention of its target cohort. The School Completion Programme is a targeted intervention aimed at those school communities identified through the Department of Education and Skills’ DEIS Action Plan for Educational Inclusion. It involves 124 locally managed projects and related initiatives operating across 470 primary and 224 post-primary schools to provide targeted supports to approximately 36,000 children and young people. The programme's project model approach gives local communities the autonomy to devise innovative approaches to address the needs of young people most at risk of early school leaving. I am happy to acknowledge the ongoing and highly committed work of these individual projects, the staff involved, the partner schools and communities in supporting their target groups of vulnerable students.

Since its establishment on 1 January 2014, the Child and Family Agency has operational responsibility for the School Completion Programme, including the allocation of funds to projects within the programme.

As with all major spending programmes, the School Completion Programme budget was subject to examination under the terms of the 2011 Comprehensive Review of Expenditure. This process identified a requirement for savings of 6.5% per annum across the programme over the period 2012 to 2014. These savings required are reflected in the allocations to the programme in those years. Details of the allocations to the School Completion Programmes in 2012 to 2014 and the savings requirement under the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure, are as follows: