400 children under the age of 16 enrolled in projects aimed at those at risk of dropping out of mainstream education.

Details provided by Minister Ruairí Quinn show that €4 million has been spent in the last year on the various projects and centres aimed at engaging with children and retaining them in education.

On the frontline are Youth Encounter Projects, which were stablished in the 1970s as non-residential facilities for children at risk of getting into trouble with authority or are at serious risk of dropping out of mainstream school.

There are five YEPS – three in Dublin and one each in Limerick and Cork – providing 120 places for children. The current overall enrolment is 107, according to Quinn’s department and these projects receive a pay and non-pay allocation of €1.124 million to cover the employment of all ancillary staff and cover school running costs.

A drug treatment centre in Cork also provides services for 14-18-year-old boys including educational and training courses, and a project that was established in Dublin’s inner city to tackle the joyriding problem in the 90s also offers courses to young teens with funding from the department.