Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Norma Foley, TD announced a suite of measures to support Ireland’s Prevention and Early Intervention programmes for children and young people.
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.
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
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.
- 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.
