Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am committed to the principle of fairness and would very much wish to allocate additional resources next year to the youth sector as the economy recovers. Any additional amount available will depend on the budgetary process in 2017. I will be closely involved in the decisions to be taken by Government in this regard.

My Department administers a range of funding schemes and programmes to support the provision of youth services by the voluntary youth sector to young people. The funding schemes support national and local youth work provision to 380,000 young people. The voluntary youth sector involves approximately 1,400 paid staff, including youth workers and 40,000 volunteers working in youth work services and communities.

Budget 2016 provided an additional €1.1 million in current youth funding to my Department, bringing the total allocation for the youth services in 2016 to €51 million. This additional funding was a 2.5% increase over 2015. It will be used for programmes that target disadvantaged young people and to assist national youth organisations in their work to support local voluntary youth services.

Next week, I expect to announce details of youth work projects that are to receive funding under the new €600,000 youth employment initiative. This initiative and other supports for vulnerable young people are priorities in my plans for the further development of youth work services in line with the programme for Government. It will target those young people aged 15 to 24 years who are most at risk of unemployment and who are not in education, employment or training. It will be provided to voluntary youth services to support the provision of innovative programmes for their young people to enhance their employability skills and competencies. All my decisions on funding for youth services will be informed by the National Youth Strategy 2015-2020.

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