Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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I thank the Minister of State for being here to discuss what is frankly a crisis in the way the State approaches youth work in the north inner city. Over the past few weeks we have all seen the headlines on the spate of crimes in the area. I am not going to sensationalise what is happening. Instead, I want to force this Government to acknowledge that these youth people, some of them not even out of their teenage years, are being pulled into drug-running and dealing because we have failed them long before members of An Garda Síochána even met them on scooters. I cannot overstate this. Youth work is crime prevention. I wish to speak to the Minister of State about youth work, specifically in the north inner city. It is, to some degree, underfunded. We also have youth workers feeling scared as they go about their daily lives trying to just do the job that is so important for the communities they serve. I give a particular shout-out and recognition to Independent Youth Works Project Dublin, which has 20 projects across the city, including the SWAN Youth Service, Cabra for Youth and Rutland Youth Service. They came together last year with one simple modest ask: sustained structural funding rather than the piecemeal grant system it is forced to survive on year after year. There is also the Bradóg Youth Service, which is currently paying €70,000 a year for its building and is struggling to stay open because of it. When we hear the Government talk about tackling so-called antisocial behaviour or launching initiatives on community safety, we cannot talk about safety while continuing to underfund the very services that prevent crime in the first place.

What I am talking about today is not in the abstract. In Mountjoy Square, a community after-school project has been asking for months for something as basic as a new front door because there are holes in the one it has. This is the reality. Kids in one of the most deprived parts of the capital are walking into a youth space that cannot even afford a proper front door while millions of euro are found for surveillance and policy initiatives. The Minister for justice has often told me I need to be more positive about the city. I have just suggested some real, positive measures that can be taken. We do so consistently. Will the Minister of State commit to real, targeted, ongoing funding for youth services in Dublin's north inner city? I am not talking about ad hoc grants, pilots or press releases but about sustained investment in the very services that will keep our young people out of crime and give them a chance.

In the north inner city, which is actually often discussed in a way, there are communities that experience generational poverty and trauma but we have always had people willing to stand up and give good community-orientated service to the area in which they grew up. Oftentimes, the services in which they do that are cut to the bone in terms of funding. These youth workers are those we ask to be on the front line of many of the issues that talk about when we talk about addressing antisocial behaviour. It is often the youth workers themselves who are going in and talking to younger people who are often traumatised or in the throes of addiction. At this point, we are a stage where young people are now being groomed into drug gangs. These services are supported to a degree but not to the extent that would make a sustained difference to the areas. Last week, I was taken aback to see reports in the newspaper of something I probably understood but when I saw it written down it was blatant and that is youth workers being scared at the moment, such is the level of intimidation, drug-related intimidation and associated violence. If we are to take these communities - and not just in the north inner city - and their safety seriously, we need to invest, not only in more community gardaí on the street, but in tackling the violent disrupters themselves who are operating in centres that are often underfunded and unsuitable.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of the crisis in the youth services in the north inner city, which gives me an opportunity to set out the position regarding these services. Supporting youth services is an absolute priority for the Department of Education and Youth, ensuring that young people in the north inner city of Dublin and across the country have access to valuable resources and opportunities.

The UBU your place your space, scheme is the Department’s largest funded youth scheme. It targets young people aged between ten and 24 who are identified as marginalised, vulnerable and at risk of not flourishing. A budget of €50.7 million was allocated under the UBU scheme in 2025, representing a 6% increase on budget 2024. Over €17 million of the UBU scheme has been allocated to the City of Dublin Education and Training Board in its capacity as a grant administering body in respect of the scheme.

More specifically, €2.8 million was allocated to five UBU youth services that support young people in the north inner city. This year, in addition to the base allocation of the UBU funding, the Department is providing a further support of €170,000 in recognition of the challenges facing the youth services to address the needs of young people in the north inner city. The aim of this additional funding was to provide additional youth services in the north east inner city, NEIC, to ensure that young people who are marginalised, disadvantaged or vulnerable are afforded the opportunity to participate in voluntary youth services to support their wellbeing.

The Department is also represented in the north east inner city's task force, including its various subgroups. The Department participates in subgroup 3, which focuses on supporting children, young people and family wellbeing. A key objective of the current NEIC strategic plan, being led by subgroup 3, is to develop a strategic plan for youth work and youth services in the area. Department officials are working closely with the NEIC structures to progress and support this objective.

The Department funds the NEIC city connects pilot project, currently running in ten NEIC primary schools and eight schools serving children of post-primary age who live in the north east inner city. City connects organises student support and leverages existing school and community-based resources to improve students' academic and social-emotional outcomes. This includes relevant youth services in the area. Working together with the city connects team, some youth services in the area have been able to adapt or change the services they provide to ensure they are meeting the strengths, interests and needs of young people based on information provided by these young people to the city connects team. The Department is actively engaged in reviewing and strengthening the youth work services in the north inner city to ensure they are responsive to the evolving needs of young people, inclusive in their reach and effectively resourced.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. The north east inner city task force is referenced quite a bit in the Chamber and other Deputies ask for similar schemes to be applied in their own areas. Why would they not? A substantial amount has been allocated over a nearly seven-year period. We should remember why that task force was initiated. It was initiated to confront the crime, drug-dealing and violent feud that tore the soul out of this city, but looking at the outcomes seven years later, despite considerable funding, we have drug-dealing and associated violence that is more insidious. Liberty Park in the north inner city is effectively a no-go area, such is the level of open drug-dealing, violence, and people almost being corralled into that space. I am here consistently calling for a safer city centre. The displacement factor when the gardaí do that drives problems into the north inner city. We effectively have places at the moment where policies of containment are going on, with the idea being that if this is happening there, it is not spilling over into the more commercial part of the city centre.

The people who are most tasked with addressing that, in the absence of real Garda or State involvement, are our youth work services. The youth work services I engage with include the Diamond Project in the Belvedere Youth Club, which is working with about 15 young people who would previously have been in the throes of all the negative commentary that I often bring to the Chamber, but through restorative justice practices, it has taken those young people and worked with them intensively, and they are no longer in the criminal justice system, saving the State an absolute fortune, but more importantly, probably saving their lives. That is the type of intervention that we need. It is considered, targeted and measured. In the absence of that, we are continuing to throw money at outcomes that we have not yet seen to be successful.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for his second contribution. As outlined, the Department provides significant support to the UBU scheme for youth services that support young people in the north inner city. Many communities across the length and breadth of the country are looking for the same intervention as has happened in the north east inner city and north inner city. They are looking at resources that I outlined in the previous answer, including the €50.7 million and other funding that has been put in place.

I take the point that we have to look at the outcomes. The Deputy also made a point about people turning their lives around and the number of young people who have successfully done that. There might be very few, but every success is a success. I assure him that the Department of Education and Youth is very much aware of the marginalised and vulnerable, and those at risk of not flourishing. One key issue before us as a State is the percentage of people who, because of intergenerational issues, including crime and drugs, are outside the State or not really engaging in education or with services, which is a key objective. We have seen an increase in the budget for this over recent years. There are other disadvantaged communities, which have been raised by other Deputies in the House.

It is important that while we continue to support and invest in these communities and ensure that the marginalised and vulnerable are given an opportunity to flourish and move forward with their lives, we take stock of how these programmes are working and whether the outcomes are successful, and if not, we have to tweak them to make sure that we have the best possible outcomes for the people involved. I will endeavour, within the Department, to work with the Deputy to get as much funding and targeted measures as possible.