Vol. 541 No. 4
454 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Education and Science the location of the five youth encounter projects; the number of young people accommodated by each; when each project was first established; the cost in respect of each youth encounter project; his plans to expand the number of projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22741/01]
There are currently five Youth Encounter type projects. These projects, which are non-residential, can accommodate up to 125 young persons aged between ten and 15 years, both boys and girls. These young people have either become involved in minor delinquency or are at risk of becoming involved in delinquency and have become alienated from the mainstream school system. Details of these projects are set out in the following tabular statement.
My Department has commenced a rolling programme of external reviews of all major initiatives in the area of educational disadvantage. The purpose of these reviews is to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of all non-mainstream education projects for "at risk" children which are currently being funded by my Department. The programme of evaluations will include the five Youth Encounter projects. The outcome of the evaluation will inform future policy in this area. The review of these projects will commence in the near future.
I have set out the details requested on the operation of the five Youth Encounter projects in the following table.
|
Youth Encounter Project |
Current Capacity |
Opened |
Unit Cost of Operation in 2000 * |
|
St Augustines YEP, Limerick. |
25 |
1977 |
£10,012.77 |
|
Scoil Chaoimhín YEP, Cork |
25 |
1978 |
£8,205.31 |
|
St Paul's YEP, Finglas, Dublin 11 |
25 |
1977 |
£6,288.12 |
|
St Laurences O'Tooles 2, Seville Place, Dublin 1 |
25 |
1982 |
£6,234.06 |
|
St Vincent's Trust, Henrietta Street, Dublin 8 |
25** |
1995 |
£9,571.42 |
