Vol. 492 No. 7
62 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Education and Science if, in view of preliminary findings from the operation of early start, Breaking the Cycle and the home school community liaison schemes, an expansion of the resource devoted to these programmes is warranted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14972/98]
The Deputy will be aware that I recently held a National Forum on Early Childhood Education. My objective in holding the forum was to allow all groups with an interest in the area of early childhood education to put forward their views as to how best to co-ordinate and support the future development of services in this area. A report on the proceedings and conclusions of the forum is currently being prepared by the independent secretariat and will be published under the authority of the secretary general to the forum. Following consideration of this report, it is my intention to publish a White Paper setting out my proposals for the future development of early childhood education services.
The operation of the Breaking the Cycle pilot project is being monitored by my Department's inspectorate and is also being evaluated by the Education Research Centre. The question of further expansion of the scheme will be considered in the light of the findings of the evaluation report.
The question of further expansion of the home/school/community liaison scheme will be considered in the context of available resources.
