Ms Sinéad Keane:

I am the newly appointed CEO of Spunout, Ireland’s youth information and support platform. We welcome this opportunity to contribute to the committee's important work examining how we can support the implementation of opportunities for youth. At Spunout, we meet young people where they are at, 24-7, 365 days a year. For 20 years, we have worked collaboratively with young people to support their mental health and well-being. We do this by creating evidence-based, person-centred digital solutions and safe, supportive spaces, reaching over 800,000 young people every year. Spunout is an active part of Ireland’s youth sector. Our work in this area focuses primarily on youth information, youth participation and amplifying issues important to young people in Ireland.

Looking to the implementation of the national youth strategy, we have identified three priorities areas. The first is to recognise and resource youth information provisions. Youth information is a crucial part of youth work that provides young people with quality information, guidance, and support to make informed decisions and realise their potential. We are all navigating an online world where misinformation is rife. In an era of clickbait and AI-generated content, factual and accurate information is more important than ever. At Spunout, we provide quality youth information both digitally and via Youth Information Chat, a collaboration between Spunout, Youth Work Ireland, YMCA Ireland and Crosscare, offering information, advice and guidance about the issues that matter to young people. Youth information is an area that is often undervalued and often left off the agenda. The Government commissioned review of youth information in 2023 provides a strong foundation to change this. We are calling for the findings of this review to be published and for the recommendations to be translated into a funded youth information action plan. Youth information needs to be included as a distinct strand in youth work policy and strategy. This area requires substantial funding to support digital youth work and in-person youth information services. Prioritising youth information is an investment in enabling young people to make informed decisions, develop critical thinking skills, and support them navigate an increasingly challenging online world.

The second priority is the introduction of multi-annual core funding. Objective 3 of Opportunities for Youth sets out a vision for sustainable and high quality youth services. In order for this strategy to be effective, adequate funding needs to be behind it. As part of our pre-budget campaign, we called for a €21.3 million investment in youth work services, aligning with the National Youth Council of Ireland and many of its members. While we welcome the €8 million increase in the recent budget, the lack of a substantial investment in this area once again shows young people are not being prioritised. Despite the incredible work carried out by the sector, Ireland’s level of youth work funding has still not recovered to pre-austerity levels when adjusted for inflation. Funding currently allocated on an annual basis creates unnecessary uncertainty for youth services and creates barriers to future planning and innovation. As we look to implement this strategy, we need committee members to support the sector with increased funding and, crucially, multi-annual funding cycles for youth schemes.

Our third priority area is launching a national capital investment programme for youth spaces. The key issue that has been brought to our attention through youth consultations is the lack of third spaces in which young people can congregate, socialise and access services. The absence of third spaces, distinct from home and school, has profound implications for young people in Ireland. The EU Loneliness Survey found that Ireland is the loneliest country in the EU, where young people are more at risk of loneliness than older people. Youth work infrastructure is inadequate, and we need safe, accessible spaces and places for youth work and connection to occur. We are calling for a national strategy on spaces for young people with a dedicated capital grant scheme for youth spaces and inclusion of youth work infrastructure in the national development plan. An all-of-government approach is needed to ensure that the youth sector receives adequate attention, and we need the committee's support. We want to ensure that young people in Ireland benefit as much as they can from opportunities for youth. Implementation must be clearly underpinned by clear links between actions and outcomes, with identified owners and funding streams, with the voice of young people embedded across every stage. Today we ask the committee to ensure this strategy has the resources, infrastructure and commitment required to deliver for young people.