Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There has been a significant reduction in funding. I know the approach of the Department for Public Expenditure and Reform is to just take money across the board, without discriminating in terms of where the cuts fall. Certain things do not change, but at the end of the day, €50 billion is being spent in current expenditure and choices have to be made. Would the Minister agree that cutting youth services is penny wise and pound foolish? Saving €7 million looks to the lay person like a significant sum of money but in the context of the total budget it is akin to a family saving €7 per year. It is foolish because of the extra burden that will be placed on the Department of Justice and Equality in the future in terms of more crime, anti-social behaviour and so forth. Has there been a debate about the need to rebalance budgets and to prioritise issues such as youth services, where one is talking about a very small amount of money making a huge difference in terms of diverting children away from crime?

See this speech in context