Dáil debates

Thursday, 9 July 2020

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate

Youth Services

5:55 pm

Photo of Pat BuckleyPat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, to the club. Sometimes he will get an easy ride and sometimes he will not.

This issue was only brought to me late last night. What is known in Carrigtwohill in east Cork as the CDYS, the Cloyne Diocesan Youth Service, is facing closure because of a lack of funding. From the information I received, it is a youth cafe that may close by 22 July and it is down to funding. In my conversations with the co-ordinator for the area and also with the parents and a couple of young kids who use the services, it really got me worrying last night. It has done so much fabulous work in the area in its short time. It has got massive buy-in from the local community but it has only been supported by a one-off philanthropy grant, the St. Vincent de Paul and a local parish priest. We had Brexit and now we seem to be blaming Covid for everything. I raise this out of my former capacity as mental health spokesperson. These young kids are very vulnerable. We have had ongoing issues with new schools in Carrigtwohill as well, so the kids do not know where they are going to school in September. If they are not sports-minded, they have no other outlet..

The kids are genuinely worried about this.

There are many sports clubs around east Cork and I thank all those involved for their work in the community. These clubs are outlets to aid positive mental health. We also have the east Cork music project. Other than these great facilities, we will not have stability or security for young people in a few weeks. Parents are very distressed. East Cork stretches over a very wide area. The Cloyne Diocesan Youth Service offers a therapeutic service for young people in Mallow, Charleville, Mitchelstown. Creative Community Alternatives, CCA, is another vital service that offers play therapy, art therapy, counselling, community and psychotherapy. All this could fall.

I hope the Minister will recognise that I speak to him in an empathetic, honest way. My concerns are genuine. I hope I will not get a standard response. Is there a possibility of keeping this vital service open? If his answer is "No", I will explain to him why it is so important. For every action, there is a reaction and we are a reactive rather than proactive society. If this service is closed, there will be a domino effect. Some young people will not return to school in September - if the schools open - because they will not be alive. Their mental health will be so damaged that we will be facing bigger issues than we do already.

6:05 pm

Photo of Seán Ó FearghaílSeán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister on his appointment. We all wish him well in his brief and we are grateful that he is present to take this important matter.

Photo of Roderic O'GormanRoderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle and Deputy Buckley for their kind words. I look forward to working closely with all Members of the House in my new role. I assure the Deputy of my commitment to young people and the youth sector which provides them with such critical support. I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue.

I am pleased to note that funding to the youth sector has been protected during the extraordinary challenges recently. This has enabled the youth sector to continue to provide supports to young people, particularly to marginalised, disadvantaged and vulnerable young people, throughout the Covid-19 crisis.

In budget 2020 my Department was allocated €61.8 million in funding to support the provision of youth services nationwide, including the UBU Your Place Your Space strategy, which opened on 1 July. This new funding scheme provides €39 million annually to youth services supporting young people aged between ten and 24 years who are vulnerable, disadvantaged or marginalised. The first cycle of this scheme runs to December 2023.

My Department also funds more universally focused, volunteer led youth work through the youth service grant scheme. We also have some other funding schemes, including the youth capital fund and the new youth climate justice fund.

We are facing challenging times ahead. As the Deputy and everyone else will understand, we must manage the resources we have and use them well. In respect of this year, and the current circumstances, the work of youth services across the country is both necessary and essential, and funding levels are being maintained on that basis. With regard to future funding, it is my wish that funding for the youth sector will be maintained and hopefully increased. I will continue to advocate for that in each successive budgetary process.

On the specific issue raised by the Deputy, while my Department does not currently fund any youth services in Carrigtwohill, it funds four Cloyne Diocesan Youth Service projects to a total of almost €300,000 in 2020. The education and training boards, ETBs, have a specific role in acting as a funding and governance intermediary for my Department in the area of youth funding. This role is underpinned by local area need assessments conducted by the ETBs in conjunction with youth services in their areas.

The Deputy noted that he had only heard about this issue last night. My Department only heard of it today. I urge the service to engage with the relevant ETB in the first instance. Any issues relating to requirements for additional funding should be discussed in the first instance with the relevant ETB, which can consider the various options available. The ETBs are the conduit for the funding that my Department provides.

The Deputy will be aware that the youth sector responded quickly to the current crisis. It has adapted and innovated and the sector did not close. This proactive, innovative approach has allowed it to support many vulnerable young people through the current crisis. Many youth workers and volunteers were redeployed in other sectors to help with Covid-19 crisis responses. I recognise that and acknowledge the work undertaken by people in the youth work sector during the crisis.

My Department is looking at a number of wider schemes to ascertain the impact of the Covid crisis on young people. In particular, we undertook a consultation, How's Your Head - Young Voices during Covid-19, to get a deeper understanding of the impacts of the current crisis on young people, including the issue raised by the Deputy.

Photo of Pat BuckleyPat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. He will get to know me. I am straightforward and I do not mess around with politeness that is not needed. The Minister mentioned assessments, ETBs and so on. The first hurdle is Covid. If the virus comes back, will we blame Covid? I understand this matter was raised with the Minister at short notice but that is also the case with me. There is a bigger picture at play.

What do I tell people in Carrigtwohill, east Cork and the Diocese of Cloyne, including the service providers and users, about what will happen to this café? Will there be a ripple effect? Will red tape and Covid be used to mask the loss of this service? This will create a void and I will be back in the House with the Minister or the Minster for Health discussing another cluster of youth suicides and asking why it is happening. I will be told there was a youth service but it is gone and some Deputy raised it at some point. This service does not cost much. The Minister mentioned a figure of €300,000. East Cork is a massive area. Considering the amount of voluntary work which goes on in the area, that sum is extremely small. I appeal to the Minister on behalf of all those who need youth services. We start from the bottom up, not the top down. We need to nurture our children now, educate them and give them support and security. I will contact the Minister's office at the weekend. I would like to sit down with him to see if we can do something to keep these services open and give the people involved an opportunity to tick all the boxes and jump over a couple of fences to get past the Covid barriers. That will not happen overnight and I appeal to the Minister to give me a commitment to keep this service open.

Photo of Roderic O'GormanRoderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I also like to think of myself as a fairly straight talker. I have come to the House with information my officials have just gathered. I would love to be in a position to say definitively that we will keep this service open but I cannot do that. To do so would be unfair to the Deputy and, more importantly, to the people who are using the services.

The Deputy was a member of Cork County Council. I do not know if he was also a member of his local education and training board. I was a member of the ETB in County Dublin and I am familiar with the huge work it did in supporting youth services. I am aware of the fundamental importance of youth services and the work done by ETBs in assessing needs in particular areas and directing funding to where it is necessary. I understand from my officials that there is a shortfall in funding of about €35,000, which is certainly not a huge amount of money. I ask the Deputy to convey to the service the message that it needs to contact the local ETB as quickly as possible.

I will also engage with my officials and will seek to ascertain what exactly are the steps that need to be taken. If the Deputy wishes to get in touch with my Department, I will be very happy to assist in any way I can. I would like to see this facility kept open and I understand the importance it has for the Deputy’s area. I do not want to make a rash commitment now that I cannot back up. We will continue to engage on this.