What works prevention and early intervention measures 2025.
Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Norma Foley, TD has today announced a suite of measures to support Ireland’s Prevention and Early Intervention programmes for children and young people, including a new funding scheme, a series of webinars, and research funding for a new Prevention and Early Intervention model. 

The funding for these initiatives is being made available through the What Works prevention and early intervention initiative which receives its funding from the Dormant Accounts Fund (DAF). The DAF is managed by the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht. 

Minister Foley said: “I am delighted to announce this suite of measures which reflect our commitment to early intervention and innovation in children’s services. My Department strives to continuously enhance the quality of prevention and early intervention services so every child and young person is given the best start in life.” 

This funding will support: 

1. An invitation for applications to the Enhancing Quality Fund 2025, which support organisations to improve the monitoring, evaluation and analysis of their prevention and early intervention initiatives.
2. An online series of planned webinars targeting commissioners, practitioners and anyone interested in applying evidence-based research to support development of prevention and early intervention policy and services.
3. Research funding to evaluate the development, piloting and implementing of a Prevention and Early Intervention model that has been designed to embed a prevention-oriented, child-centred mindset across professional disciplines working with children and families. 

The objective of these measures is to support prevention and early intervention initiatives and research that will improve outcomes for children and young people experiencing disadvantage, adversity and trauma. 

1. Enhancing Quality Fund 2025
The 2025 Enhancing Quality Fund aims to promote continuous improvement and innovation using a process of problem-solving in prevention and early intervention services for children and young people. Successful applicants will support the What Works initiative to build on the development of implementation structures and learning harnessed from over a decade of investment in prevention and early intervention in order to improve outcomes for children, young people and their families. 

The fund is open to practitioners and service providers in not-for-profit organisations working with children, young people and their families and who have a strong emphasis on prevention and early intervention. 

Grants of up to €30,000 will be made available to community and voluntary sector organisations working with children and young people through a prevention and early intervention approach. The total value of the fund is €300,000. 

These grants will support organisations to support the effective use of data in service provision for children and young people around Ireland. Further information can be found here. 

2. Four Prevention and Early Intervention Webinars
This series of four ninety-minute webinars is designed for commissioners, practitioners and anyone interested in applying evidence-based research and will be delivered by Foundations – the what works centre for children and families (UK). 

Foundations developed the What Works Ireland Evidence Hub. The What Works Ireland Evidence Hub provides information about prevention and early intervention programmes that have been evaluated and shown to improve outcomes for children and young people. 

These workshops will take place between July 2025 and October 2025.  For further details and to register please click here. 

3. Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) Research
Enabled by funding from the Tulsa Prevention Partnership and Family Support National Office via What Works, the Prevention and Early Intervention Network has spent the last 14 months developing a thematic learning module: The Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) module is designed to embed a prevention-oriented, child-centred mindset across professional disciplines working with children and families. The module consists of 10 learning units covering core themes such as trauma-informed practice, interagency collaboration, and children’s rights. 

What Works is providing €30,000 to evaluate the process of developing, piloting, and implementing the PEI module. It aims to ensure that the module is effective, evidence-based, and responsive to the needs of learners and stakeholders. In doing so it will examine the viability of the module as a cross-disciplinary resource. The focus will be on understanding what worked, what could be improved, and how to support broader adoption and sustainability and ultimately, explore the extent to which a thematic and focused PEI module has the potential to contribute to the overall PEI landscape in Ireland.

4. What Works 
What Works, funded under Dormant Accounts, is an initiative designed by the Department of Children, Disability and Equality. What Works aims to take a coordinated approach to enhance capacity, knowledge and quality, primarily in prevention and early intervention for children, young people and their families. Four key strands have been identified to embed and enhance prevention and early intervention in children and young people’s policy, service provision and practice:

• Data
• Evidence
• Professional development and capacity building
• Quality

What Works funding supports research and pilots with regard to prevention and early intervention. Further information can be found on the What Works website: https://whatworks.gov.ie/

Since its inception, the What Works initiative, funded under Dormant Accounts, has supported evidence-based innovation to improve outcomes for children, young people and families across Ireland. What Works is designed to fund targeted pilot projects and research initiatives. What Works supports the testing of new approaches to prevention and early intervention while building a robust evidence base for possible future service developments.

The initiative places strong emphasis on research and evaluation as demonstrated by the three previous What Works funds:

• Building Evidence
• Sharing Knowledge
• Learning Together and Digital Solutions

that supported organisations to collect and analyse data on What Works in practice. This research-focused approach supports services to be grounded in proven methodologies.

Previous funding recipients in 2023 included:

• Belong To Youth Services, Youth Work Ireland – Tipperary, Barnardos and Jigsaw;

and in 2022 included:

• Dochas Midwest Autism Support, Down Syndrome – Tipperary, PEIN, Doras Bui, Enable Ireland, National College of Ireland, Familibase and NCBI.

Through collaboration between statutory agencies and community partners, What Works supports the creation of a pipeline from innovation to potential mainstream implementation. By fostering a culture of continuous learning and evidence-based practice, the initiative ensures that promising approaches are properly tested, evaluated and scaled to benefit more children and families nationwide. This model represents a strategic investment in building Ireland's capacity for effective, data-informed children's services.