John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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41. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will detail the measures his Department is undertaking to address the disruption caused to youth services as a consequence of high staff turnover due to funding delays and difficulties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26085/23]

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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What measures are the Minister and his Department taking to address disruption caused to youth services as a consequence of high staff turnover due to funding delays and difficulties? It is having a real and severe impact on the delivery of youth services throughout the State. What measures are the Minister and his Department taking?

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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In respect of grants to youth services, I am not aware of any delays in funding managed by my Department. These grants are distributed in advance to funding intermediaries, in particular the education and training boards and Pobal. I understand that payments are currently on target for the year to date. If the Deputy has specific instances where that is not the case, I would appreciate it if he would draw them to my attention.

In budget 2023, I ensured that there was a 4% increase in funding provided to services on the ground.

This built on increases provided during the period of Covid-19 restrictions, which saw all grants continue without interruption. Furthermore, in 2021 and 2022 my Department increased grant supports to services experiencing particular challenges and to support smaller services to engage additional staff. In recent years, I have increased funding for youth services and clubs by some €12 million or 18%. The funding was at €61 million when I started and it is now at €73 million in terms of current spending and there is capital spending there as well.

Grants are provided on an organisational and a provision of service basis, in particular through the youth services grant scheme, youth information centres scheme and the targeted scheme, UBU. Youth workers and other staff involved in youth services are employed directly by the organisation in receipt of funding. My Department has no role in the setting of pay and conditions, which are matters for the employer.

My Department has heard from youth organisations about the challenges in the wider community and voluntary sector when it comes to the recruitment and retention of staff. My Department is currently developing a new action plan for youth services. The plan will outline key actions to enhance delivery of youth services in Ireland, including a consideration of the role of both paid staff and volunteers in the delivery of youth services across the sector.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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I am being told that intermittent and inadequate funding is a key challenge. Funding has been beset with delays and difficulties and that has had a real impact on the delivery of youth services and the ability to recruit and retain staff right across the sector. That is imposing severe challenges on youth service providers.

Youth Work Ireland, YWI, has submitted a business plan to the Minister and his Department and hopefully the Minister is familiar with it. YWI is calling on the Minister and the Government to support a number of key measures, including the reinvigoration of youth clubs as a key grassroots activity for young people which is particularly important in many rural and isolated communities.

I hear what the Minister is saying on the development of a new action plan but what is needed is an increase in funding. While the Minister says there was a 4% increase, in reality the budget has stayed stagnant over many years, at €73 million. We need to see a real, tangible increase in funding.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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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.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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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

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Deputy Murnane O'Connor has a supplementary question.

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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A few months ago, I attended a meeting with the Minister and Carlow County Council. We spoke about a community hub in Carlow on the Tullow Road. I raise this tonight because the organisation that will be the main tenant in the hub, Carlow Regional Youth Services, receives €130,000 in annual funding from Tusla to provide a range of services to children and young people in the area. There is also need for childcare facilities but this seems to be falling between three stools or Departments, namely, the Departments of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Social Protection, and Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. I am looking for funding for this organisation. As I said, the main tenant in the hub will be Carlow Regional Youth Services and I ask the Minister to consider providing funding for it.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I met members of the group in question with Deputy Murnane O'Connor and they gave an extremely impressive presentation. As the Deputy knows, I provide €128,000 to the group in terms of current spending through Tusla. We will continue to engage with that particular organisation.

In response to Deputy Brady, I absolutely agree that we need to continue to grow the youth budget because it provides incredibly good value for money. It has grown very significantly over the last number of years. I want to do more and will work to do more, both in terms of the delivery of increased levels of investment and in terms of supporting the updating and modernising of funding schemes like the youth services grant scheme. We changed and updated the UBU scheme just before I came into office and that has been extremely successful. We have opened 16 new UBU targeted schemes across the country during my term as Minister.