Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Sorry Chairman. With respect, the cut this year is €1 million less than envisaged but it is still a cut of €2 million on top of a cut of €5.4 million last year and €3.5 million the previous year. Quite simply, youth services and youth organisations are at the pin of their collar. I gave an example prior to Christmas of a youth service in Cabra which had to cease offering tea and toast to its students in the evening. That is how tight is the funding. I alluded to the Department of Justice and Equality which acknowledged that services cannot operate below a certain level. In the past two years it has ceased cutting the grant aid to the youth justice system, the exact title of the grants escapes me, but it has acknowledged that it cannot sustain any further cut. While the Minister wants praise for making only a €2 million cut, one has to remember what the cut has been in previous years. Last year the cut was €5.4 million and the previous year €3.5 million. Quite simply, youth organisations are at the pin of their collar and are not able to provide much needed services at a time when 37% of young people, under the age of 18, are at risk of poverty and social inclusion. This is a budget which should have been ring-fenced this year, bearing in mind the cuts it had to accept in recent years.