Mr. Kevin McCarthy:

In terms of the distribution of funding to youth services and support for organisations in this space, there is a mix of universal services and targeted services which seek to address particular areas of disadvantage or young people who have particular needs arising from disadvantage. We monitor the geographical breakdown, particularly of universal funding, to ensure the distribution is equitable based on the overall spread of ETBs and the numbers of young people they seek to serve.

On a general point, overall funding for young persons' services has grown over recent years. In 2020, it was €65.89 million. In 2021, that figure was €69.687 million and the budget in 2022 is €74.488 million. There is significant additional investment going in across the range of activity. There is a wide range of activity both through the ETBs and supports for national organisations in this space. As I said, there is a mix of targeted supports and universal supports aimed at young people between the ages of 16 and 24. The aim is to ensure that as many of those young people as possible have access to youth services through the various supports that we put in place.