Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her reply. It is welcome that we have a Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. It is one of the more positive things that have happened in recent years. The Minister has mentioned that funding is allocated not necessarily in proportion to the size of the youth population but rather based on income and disadvantage. With respect, I point out to her in comparison to the other 25 counties County Laois has a low income figure per head of population. For a rural county we also have a huge concentration of foreign nationals. There are many children whose home language is not English or Irish and this creates a lot of difficulties. There is a high unemployment rate because the collapse of the construction industry hit County Laois severely. Very many people travel to work in Dublin in construction. There is a significant level of disadvantage in County Laois. Out of a population of 86,000, 11,500 people commute every day. Of the €57.4 million in current funding the Department of Children and Youth Affairs has allocated to support the provision of youth services, County Laois received just €86,000 which represents 0.15% of the total sum. According to the census, the youth population in the county is growing rapidly. Some 24.6% of the people living in the county are under 14 years of age and there has been a 26.3% increase in the youth population in the past ten years.

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