Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

I put it to the Minister of State that this 10% cutback across the board may see many of these 180 special projects going to the wall. That cannot be allowed to happen under any circumstances but this budget, allegedly, was supposed to safeguard the front line and the most vulnerable children. Will the Minister of State agree to meet urgently with the National Youth Council of Ireland? The NYCI is the umbrella organisation for all the other good organisations throughout the country. The Minister of State might explain to the NYCI how, exactly, the budget for 2009 is to be constructed and, more important, how it will affect the 180 different organisations.

There may well be an argument that some national bodies can provide some of the required savings. The Minister of State, more than anybody, would be prepared to dialogue with those national organisations. I ask him to sit down over the course of the next few weeks with the NYCI in order to see if an agreement can be found to safeguard these 180 organisations that help the most vulnerable children of all in our constituencies.

There is also a need to ensure that the organisations that run these services can know their budget for 2009 as expeditiously as possible. Last year many of them were not given a budget until well into the summer months when half of their service had already been provided. That was a scandal and is no way to treat the youth service. In good times or bad, there is cross-party consensus that these organisations must be supported. Unfortunately, this budget falls between two stools because neither the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, nor the Minister of State with responsibility for children and youth affairs, Deputy Andrews, takes responsibility for the youth service budget.

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