Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is my intention that we provide further support for youth funding, not just in the current budget but also on the capital side where it is a small part compared with the overall education budget. That is my ambition in the national development plan review. Separately, we need to understand how youth services can integrate and enhance the work in education and vice versa. Work is being in the Department to look at the services we have, what services are provided and how they might fit into the many different strands in education, from DEIS programmes to special education and other areas, and then look at what funding is needed to enhance and support them. It has only been part of the Department for a month. My ambition is to increase that funding over the next few years but it must be targeted and specific on how to make sure organisations are enhanced and supported in their work and complement what is happening in education. It must also be acknowledged that they are separate; it is not all about one complementing the other. They provide different supports and functions for children in different ways. We must make sure we link the two insofar as possible.