Vol. 572 No. 3
325 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of educational welfare officers who have been appointed nationally, in Dublin as a whole, and for the postal areas of Dublin 3, 5, 9 and 17; and his Department's assessment of the staffing levels needed to offer a full service to these respectively. [23461/03]
The National Educational Welfare Board will employ educational welfare officers to provide welfare-focused services to children, families and schools. The new services will be phased in and my Department has allocated a budget of €5.4 million to the board for 2003 to begin developing the services involved.
A management team was put in place earlier this year. Some 36 new staff are being recruited which will bring the total number of staff delivering the educational welfare services nationally to 73. Five regional teams in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford will be established and the staff will be deployed in areas of greatest disadvantage and in areas designated under the Government's RAPID programme. A service will also be provided in cases where children have been permanently excluded from education.
Decisions relating to the assignment of educational welfare officers to specific areas are a matter for the board which is an independent statutory authority. I understand, however, that final decisions regarding the location of the newly recruited staff will be taken by the board shortly.
