Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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293. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the total additional cost, per year, of the City Connects pilot programme in Dublin's northeast inner-city in 2022, 2023 and 2024, in tabular form. [41210/24]

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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310. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the amount of annual funding allocated to the ten DEIS band 1 schools participating in the NEIC City Connects project in each of the years since the programme's launch (details supplied). [41399/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 293 and 310 together.

City Connects is an evidence-based system, originally developed by Boston College, delivered in partnership with schools and other services. City Connects organises student support and leverages existing school and community-based resources in order to improve students’ academic and social-emotional outcomes.

City Connects seeks to meet the needs of children living with high levels of poverty and marginalisation. It is currently provided in ten DEIS Band 1 primary schools in the North East Inner City (NEIC) in Dublin.

The pilot is led by my Department and Tusla Education Support Service, in conjunction with the National Centre for City Connects Ireland (NCCCI), which is located in Mary Immaculate College, Limerick and Boston College.

I launched the NCCCI in May 2024 and it will play an integral role in supporting the delivery of City Connects in the 10 NEIC schools, in consultation with Boston College. The NCCCI will provide leadership in the areas of strategic planning, business management and operations.

Funding for City Connects is not allocated directly to the 10 individual NEIC DEIS Band 1 schools. The cost of providing City Connects in the NEIC encompasses the funding of six City Connects Coordinators, one Programme Manager, the usage and operation of MyConnects (an online student support information system designed to support the City Connects practice), and oversight and implementation expertise provided by the both the NCCCI, and Boston College.

While City Connects is now fully funded by my Department, it should be noted that in previous years the NEIC Programme Implementation Board, the Dormant Accounts Fund and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth contributed to the cost of funding City Connects in the NEIC.

The cost of funding City Connects in the 10 DEIS Band 1 primary schools in the NEIC for the years 2021 to 2023 and the estimated costs for 2024 are as follows;

2021 - €1.4 million2022 - €1.6 million2023 - €1.6 million2024 - €1.8 million - projected cost for 2024.