Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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216. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her plans to continue to fund a programme (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18659/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The Area Based Childhood (ABC) Programme is a joint prevention and early intervention initiative led by my Department and The Atlantic Philanthropies. It is a time bound co-funding arrangement with resources of €29.7m from 2013 to 2017. The aim of the ABC Programme is to test and evaluate prevention and early intervention approaches to improve outcomes for children and families living in poverty in 13 areas of disadvantage.

The ABC Programme was preceded by the Prevention and Early Intervention Programme (PEIP) (2007-2013) in which three sites participated: Preparing for Life Programme, Darndale, Youngballymun and the Childhood Development Initiative Tallaght. Preparing for Life received €6m as a participant in the Prevention and Early Intervention programme. The total funding for Preparing for Life under the ABC programme is €3.34m bringing the total funding received by Preparing for Life under both programmes to €9.34m.

I want to acknowledge the excellent research undertaken by Preparing for Life in recent years including in respect of its home visiting programme which is showing promising results. I should emphasise that each of the ABC sites are engaged in research and evaluation of their programmes, approaches and interventions. A number of sites who were previously funded under PEIP, National Early Years Access Programme or other philanthropic-funded programmes have produced detailed high quality evaluations with many promising results being identified across the sites and individual programmes. My Department is working to ensure that we take full account of the learning from all the interventions across the 13 ABC sites including Preparing for Life. This will offer a clear illustration of the interventions that work best, and will inform our plans to embed prevention and early intervention in services for children.

The current contract for Preparing for Life was due to conclude in August 2016. My Department worked with Preparing for Life in April to agree the extension of this contract together with that of the two other PEIP sites to July 2017. This will bring them in line with the other 10 ABC sites. To ensure continued provision, my Department and The Atlantic Philanthropies have sanctioned an additional €400k to each of the three original sites. Preparing for Life welcomed the additional funding and have indicated that it allows them to embed their work in mainstream services and contribute to the learning and evaluation of the ABC Programme.

I look forward to the continued engagement of the 13 ABC sites with my Department as we work towards the implementation of quality prevention and early intervention initiatives in order to achieve our shared goal of improving the lives of children and families throughout the country.