Mr. Stephen Sharpe:

The St. John Bosco Youth Centre, known locally as “The Bosco”, was established by the community in Drimnagh more than 70 years ago and has proudly provided services for generations of young people. We are located on Davitt Road opposite the Drimnagh Luas stop along the Grand Canal. Since being divested from the Catholic Church to community ownership in 1996, the centre has continually adapted and developed its services to young people and the broader community, supported by various Government bodies and user group contributions.

Currently, our centre operates seven days a week with a very diverse range of services and activities, including a Montessori school, Merchants Quay aftercare programme, English language classes, a full-time gym, a youth justice initiative for the broader Dublin 12 area and narcotics and cocaine anonymous meetings. It is also the location of the Irish Filipino consulate and it hosts numerous sports, dance, and drama groups and various other activities for all ages. In excess of 500 people access the centre each day.

I could talk in further detail about our history and current activities, but today I am here to talk about our youth work provision. Our youth work programme is a UBU-funded project and consists of a small team of two full-time youth workers and me as project leader. Last year, we had 202 young people access our programme. Our service engages young people through a broad range of programmes and supports, including our youth café, structured programme groups, and one-to-one supports. We have recently secured funding from the Dublin 12 local drugs and alcohol task force to fund a centre-based art therapist.

While the practice of youth work continues to evolve, the root antagonists of young people’s development and effective participation in society remain the same. Familial addiction, mental health issues, cultural marginalisation, low education attainment and limited life opportunities have a pernicious impact on many young people long before their initial engagement with youth services. With UBU-funded programmes limited to working with young people of ten years of age and over, many young people have already been severely impacted by difficult life circumstances prior to navigating what is aptly described by G. Stanley Hall as the “storm and stress of adolescence”.

Currently, one area of real concern our programme encounters is mental health difficulties affecting young people. Navigating the world of social media is also presenting challenges for many of our young people, and no doubt contributes to decreases in mental health and well-being.

While the St. John Bosco Youth Centre will continue to ensure our work is relevant and responsive to the needs of local young people there are challenges that impinge on the quality and effectiveness of this work. Despite significant investment, the St. John Bosco Youth Centre building is no longer adequate for the needs of the community. Our local community network, Dynamic Drimnagh, is currently lobbying for a new purpose-built youth and community facility.

Our youth work programme is currently under-resourced and with just three staff members sustains constant pressure to meet the needs of young people. Drimnagh is currently experiencing population growth, with a substantial increase expected over the coming years. It is vital that Drimnagh receives adequate resources to ensure the continued and effective delivery of services to young people. Due to changes in funding structures, the centre has, over the past ten years, lost two full-time youth education courses and a experienced a significant reduction in our after school service.

Finally, the difficulty in recruitment of youth workers is an issue affecting the sector as a whole. It is currently nearly impossible to recruit staff. This having a country-wide impact on services to young people. Our service has operated without one of our three posts since October 2022 due to this issue. I would like to thank the committee for the invitation to speak today on behalf of the St. John Bosco Youth Centre.