Vol. 495 No. 6
85 Mr. Finucane asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will allocate additional funds in order that an additional tranche of projects can go ahead in view of the huge levels of applications for the early school leaver initiative. [20779/98]
158 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will allocate additional funds in order that an additional tranche of projects can go ahead in view of the huge level of applications for the early school leaver initiative. [20909/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 85 and 158 together.
A total of 14 project areas have been selected for inclusion under the present phase of the initiative. Funding amounting to £3.62 million is being made available to the initiative over the coming two years.
The initiative includes a project strand, a research strand and an evaluation strand. A management committee, comprising representatives of the Department and outside agencies, has been established to oversee the operation of the initiative. A projects co-ordinator was appointed on 1 August 1998 to support the selected projects and to co-ordinate the development of the programme. The objective of the pilot projects is to develop models of good practice with a view to their integration, after structured evaluation, into mainstream policy and practice.
The operation of the pilot phase of the initiative will be kept under ongoing review. The question of expanding the initiative will be considered in the light of experience with the models now being tested under the pilot phase. I am sure the Deputy would agree it would defeat the purpose of the research to mainstream an initiative before its effectiveness has been proven.
