John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister spoke about the budget and I also referenced the €73 million in funding. However, to put that in context, the Government provided €111 million to fund private schools, which is an interesting comparison in terms of prioritisation. The organisations are saying that the 2023 youth services budget was a mere 1.2% of the overall budget for the Department, which is a serious failure. That budget needs to be increased because we know the value for money that youth services provide in terms of the payback to communities. A survey conducted in 2012 conservatively estimated that every €1 invested in youth work pays back over €2 to the Irish economy in terms of savings and so on. Such investment represents real value for money. I am not asking the Minister to kite fly or anything like that but we need to see a serious increase in funding for youth services

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