Mr. Paul Gordon:

I will speak on the broader issues around funding and services. At the moment, youth work organisations and youth workers are effectively running on fumes. Youth work organisations have been underfunded over a long period. That has recovered somewhat in recent years and there has been welcome progress with the Minister, Deputy O’Gorman, in the Department but it is not enough, given the level of population aged ten to 24, which is the age group most members of the NYCI work with and which is set out in the Youth Work Act as the general age group with which youth work organisations work. There has been an estimated 13% increase in growth. We have the second highest participation rates in youth work in the European Union. In the past 12 months, a survey put out by the Department showed one on four young people had engaged in youth work. That gives a sense of the strength of the sector and of how we are doing more with less.

We do not have the data to inform decision-making. The NYCI undertook a study in 2012 on the economic value of youth work. That helped scale the sector in terms of employed staff, volunteer engagement and the number of young people we worked with. It has been 11 years since that was published. The Department is still making decisions on the basis of those numbers. We have to revisit that. Along with that, the cost of living has put further pressure on organisations. We increasingly hear of the challenges in delivering services to young people. A survey of our members in August and September last showed big issues around organisational costs such as heating, food, light and rising insurance costs. That is reflected in the communities they work in. We have a survey in the field currently and much of the feedback concerns food poverty for young people.

To touch on points made by Ms McKenna, Dr. McMahon and others, we hear from members that youth workers are dealing with what would be primarily considered social work issues. Those are the first things they have to deal with when young people come in the door who are hungry and have not eaten in 24 hours. It all combines to put additional pressure on youth workers, who do not have the pay and conditions to keep them in the sector. It is a vocation for many but they need to be kept in the sector. Unfortunately, the funding levels do not allow youth work organisations to consider decisions to look at pay and conditions. It needs leadership from the Department on delivering that funding and looking at youth work and youth workforce development, both for paid staff and also volunteers, who are really the foundation of the sector.