Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 6 October 2020

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised)

Photo of Roderic O'GormanRoderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy noted, €64 million is a very small amount in the grand scheme of things but the value the State gets from that investment is absolutely huge. The value we get from youth work is incredible. The sector never shut down during Covid but just went online. I have met various groups over the last number of weeks, including Foróige, the National Youth Council of Ireland and the Youth Work Forum, which represents the entire sector. Originally, it was proposed to drop the term "youth" from my Department's title but after some engagement we decided not to, as an acknowledgement of the youth sector's importance and the difference it makes to the children and early years sector.

The Deputy said that the addition of €1.5 million last year was not a huge amount of money. While it was not massive, it is clear that a little goes a long way and every extra euro we put into this sector is valuable and is used extremely well. The various funding streams are designed in such a way that there are targeted ones and universal ones. Our universal streams support youth work in order that wherever somebody is, they have the option and the opportunity to get involved should they want to, whereas targeted ones are obviously focused on areas and communities of disadvantage. That is a good model and we need to balance it because while youth work is incredibly important for people from deprived areas, it can be incredibly beneficial to anybody. It is about getting that balance right. I am very conscious of what the Deputy is saying about needing to support the sector financially. It suffered significant cuts during the last recession and I have been completely clear that that is not going to happen in the economic downturn we are experiencing at the moment. Things have yet to be decided for this day next week but I will certainly be pushing to ensure the allocation is going in the right direction.

I am very conscious of the considerable work that is done there. We have been very innovative in Ireland, for example, in the LGBTI+ youth strategy. That is the world's first dedicated youth strategy for the LGBTI+ community. That was meant to run out this year but a good few of its actions were not completed because of Covid. We will run that into 2021 before we bring in the successor strategy.

CAMHS does not fall within my jurisdiction and will not after the transfer of functions. That will continue to be within the Department of Health and under the responsibility primarily of the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health. However, that is not to in any way take away from its importance. As I have said, I have spoken already about youth mental health. There are matters on the non-clinical intervention side that my Department can do in the context of "How's your Head?", other work that we have been doing and our engagement with other Departments to remind them that the mental health of young people needs to be in their consideration when they are taking various measures.

It would be a similar issue as regards youth employability, which falls between the Department of Education and the Department of further and higher education. As was said, the Minister, Deputy Harris, has been placing a real focus on further education. I am not sure if the Deputy ever served on an ETB. I did in my area. There is a significant amount of work in supporting further education and making that provision for young people who leave school early for a variety of reasons. Youth work services, such as Foróige, do a considerable amount of work in supporting that. Ours is a supporting role rather than a leading role but I am eager to do whatever we can to support it.

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