Ms Catherine Hazlett:

One of the issues raised related to the CDYSB and whether it was intended to transfer all responsibility for the administration of funding to that body. At this point, the Department has 33 funding administration bodies. All decisions relating to seeking the Estimate, the overall allocations and the decisions for projects remain within the Department. These administration bodies distribute the money to the organisations four times a year. There has been a need for some time to look at the extent and the numbers of administering bodies. CDYSB is one of those bodies and it has a strong reputation in the Dublin area. It manages a very large number of projects, but so do the large number of VECs, a couple of local authorities, the HSE and one or two other national organisations involved. We are examining what type of efficiencies can be gained with the organisations in terms of rationalising the number of bodies with which we must deal.

With regard to the VECs specifically, what has happened up to this point is that some of the projects of six national organisations have been transferred to the CDYSB. That was the first thing that happened. No further decisions have been made regarding any other projects throughout the country. The Department is meeting with the Irish Vocational Education Association, IVEA, on behalf of the VECs. The VECs have a very valued role because they have a long-standing engagement with the youth services in their local areas and local knowledge is very important in all administering bodies. In addition, the youth workers are based in the VECs. We have been having ongoing discussions with the IVEA and, in fact, a meeting is planned in the next couple of weeks.