Ms Leanne Lowry:

I will give an example, as Mr. Perth did. I am youth worker, so I engage with people from the age of ten. As a project and in the Liberties community, we are struggling with support for our six- to ten-year-olds. Currently, Solas Project engages with six- to ten-year-olds but they access that through a private fund that we fundraise for to allow engagement with that cohort. When I meet a ten-year-old, sometimes, as Ms Kearney said, they cannot just come in and go into the programmes as outlined through the UBU fund because they are not at a level where they can. Already, by the age of ten, they have disengaged from school, they are involved in antisocial behaviour and they are smoking weed daily. This is the real-life story of an 11-year-old who we are working with at the minute. We just do not know how to engage them in the youth work process as we are prescribed to do it because they do not fit within the targets or remit that we have been given. Similar to what other speakers said, that provision works for some young people, which is good and has a place in youth work. However, there is a gap for that young person who has gone beyond a point of that level of engagement. We need a more intensive support. We need to get there earlier. Ten is too late in their experience.