Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

With respect, the budget has not stayed stagnant for many years. When I started it was €61 million and I have raised it to €73 million, which is an 18% increase across that period. That said, we always want to do more and the youth sector is so important in terms of what it provides in the form of both targeted and universal services. As we know, the community and voluntary sector is under pressure right now, particularly as we have full employment now and are seeing the attractiveness of significant salaries across the private sector. That is why we are looking to continue to support the sector with investment. We are looking to improve the existing grants by reforming the youth services grant scheme. We are working on that. My officials and I engage very extensively with those in the youth sector. We are listening to the advice and suggestions they bring forward and doing our best to implement them.

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