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

I thank Deputy O'Sullivan. She referred to the day I came to her constituency and the conference that was being held by all of the groups that are engaged in working with young people. Many young people were there themselves as well as representatives of the schools. It was impressive. The Deputy works with people who put into practice that which she is arguing for. We ought to encourage and enable more integration between those working within the schools and those working within the youth sector to provide the supports that are possible, particularly for young people who are at risk. These things need to be taken into account, particularly from my Department's perspective, as we are involved in the design of a new funding scheme that streamlines some of the past funding schemes. We need to build into that a way of ensuring the kind of integration Deputy O'Sullivan is speaking about does happen. There could be some sort of criteria involved and I am happy to continue to discuss the matter with the Deputy.

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