Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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95. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the extent to which he expects to be in a position to target areas of child poverty in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36766/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The Area Based Childhood (ABC) Programme is an innovative prevention and early intervention initiative which uses evidence-informed interventions to improve the long-term outcomes for children and families living in disadvantaged areas. The ABC Programme is a time-bound joint investment of €29.7m by my Department and The Atlantic Philanthropies which is in place until 2017.

A key purpose of the ABC Programme is to mainstream the learning from the ABC Programme to promote improvements, not only in specific areas, but across the wider system. A Task Group was also established to explore how best to mainstream the learning from the ABC programmes and activities.

The ABC Programme is currently being evaluated under the guidance of an Expert Advisory Group. The evaluation will consider the implementation of the ABC Programme from both local and national perspectives. It will focus on how the outcomes for children and families in Area Based Childhood areas have changed during the course of the programme. National interim reports will be provided from mid-2016. The final national evaluation reports will be produced in 2018.

This evaluation will provide an indication of the impact of the ABC Programme, and along with the work of the Task Group will inform considerations regarding the mainstreaming of the learning from this programme.