Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

That leads to my final question. Youth work is very targeted in this country. It is for the most disadvantaged young people and young people who are marginalised in particular ways. Having been a youth worker, I would love to see youth work provided for everybody, so that the funding is not just for targeted supports. That is not to take away from them but it would mean every child, no matter where they come from, what they look like and what they do, has a neighbourhood youth project available in their community. That may be blue-sky thinking but in the world we live in now, people feel very isolated. We talk about people only being on social media. When there is another place to go that is not on the phone and people are encouraged and supported, that is fantastic. People have talked about youth cafés and youth spaces. Going back to community safety forums, people are saying there are young people hanging out. Young people hang out there because there is nowhere else to hang out. I would love to see that rolled out as much as possible.