John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. I asked this question because I have a particular interest in highly disadvantaged communities and youth employment in such communities is very relevant in the context of the aforementioned scheme which ran from 2014 and which will cease in 2020. Why is it that the Department is only submitting an application for funding at the end of the scheme period? Is this the maximum level of funding that was available? I ask the Minister to provide details on whether the funding was used for targeted programmes, particularly in the context of youth employment in our more disadvantaged communities. I understand that the reference year to qualify for funding was 2012, at which point youth unemployment had to be at least 25%. Certainly, in this country at that time, youth unemployment stood at more than 30%. Given that the programme timeframe was 2014 to 2020, why is the funding only being drawn down now? Is the funding being back paid for those earlier years?

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