Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)

I welcome the witnesses. As some people know, I was a youth worker for a number of years. It is great that youth work is back with the education brief. It is fantastic to have the witnesses here. I thank them for their opening statements. It was very enlightening for members of the committee to hear what youth work is, why it has to exist and does exist, and the benefits that go with that.

I will speak to the question on the legislation, in particular the part about loneliness, which was dealt with in the EU-LS 2022. It is important to understand the level of need out there for young people. A statement that somebody is lonely should be believed. It is so important. They are lonely. It is not just because of Covid. Covid is blamed for everything. Young people were lonely in this country well before Covid and have been lonely since. Youth work and having that third space, which is a great name for it, are vital.

For many young people, youth services are not available because there is such a shortage. I know they are there in disadvantaged areas, and they are specifically there for young people who come from a disadvantaged background. I am glad that Ms Carey is here today from the Solas Project in my own constituency. The work it does in the Liberties is vital. At every single meeting that we go to, as public representatives, youth workers are there with gardaí and Dublin City Council to plug the gaps. As Ms Murphy said with regard to all of the things that do not exist for young people, youth workers are doing that. Whether it is safe or not is a different question. The point is that it has to be delivered by youth workers because they have the relationship.

On top of having the relationship, they have the ability to tap into other services in the community. In communities like the one I am from, the capital that other families might have is not there for them. They do not know how to access services, so youth workers do that for them. That is why they go to the different meetings. Ms Carey mentioned in her opening statement going to the meeting in the school about the expulsion because the families are not able to do that. That is the reality. We can dress it up and say that youth work is all singing and dancing. Actually, at its core, youth work is being there, and it is sometimes being the only person available for that young person. That is a stark reality in 2025 in Ireland. The youth worker is the only person there.

I have one question. This is the Joint Committee on Education and Youth. Hopefully, DEIS+ is going to happen. Where is youth work going to fit into that? In my constituency, St. Ultan's is fantastic. It has an after-school service that is immersed within the school, it has a school completion programme immersed within it, and it has all the services there. Some of us are taking a trip to Finland to see how the Finnish education system immerses all of these support services within the school system as a central location for that. How do the witnesses see DEIS+ and youth work coming together? I know that for a while, youth work was removed from schools, and I think that was a mistake. How do the witnesses feel it is going to work now?