Liam Fitzgerald (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State and the debate on this issue. In the years during which I have been a Member of the Oireachtas I have had the opportunity to refer to issues such as youth affairs in many contexts in various debates but this is the first opportunity during the lifetime of this Seanad that we have had a debate specifically devoted to youth affairs. It is timely and appropriate for the many reasons outlined by the Minister of State and Senator Finucane.

Figures given by the Minister of State indicate we have upwards of 1.5 million young people under the age of 25 representing approximately 40% of our population. I am sure there are some changes in those figures since the 2002 census. However, addressing the various, growing and complex problems young people face in the transition from childhood into adulthood poses a major challenge to Government, society and the organisations that reach out to them in a statutory or voluntary capacity. Our young people constitute a much higher percentage of the population relative to the populations of other members' states of the European Union.

Young people have a variety of needs, which many agencies and Departments seek to address. While the Minister of State, Deputy de Valera, is taking this debate, there is a range of Departments that seek to reach out to young people, although the primary focus of this debate is education. Other Departments that also play a role are the Departments of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the various agencies associated with it, Arts, Sport and Tourism and others. They endeavour, in a joined-up Government approach, to target the problems referred to by Minister of State and Senator Finucane.

We would all acknowledge that being young in Ireland is the same as being young in any other country, but being young means different things to young people. To many young people being young means experiencing the phenomenal success and affluence resulting from the economic growth during the past ten to 15 years and the phenomenal opportunities such growth has presented. I agree fully with Senator Finucane that it is unfortunate and most regrettable that many young people have been tagged in a way that is most unfair, unjustified and does not reflect the overwhelming majority of young people's commitment to structures, citizenship, a civic spiritedness, sport, cultural pursuits and everything that is good, proper and healthy in the long process of transition from childhood to adulthood. They have far greater opportunities than previous generations and the overwhelming majority of them grasp and embrace those opportunities with enthusiasm and passion and go on to achieve great success in their lives in far greater numbers than my generation or previous generations.

The number of young people who go on to third level education is only one example of the opportunities presented. Access programmes have been targeted to meet the needs of young people, notwithstanding what Senator Finucane said he heard the other day. I regret I was unable to attend the meeting at which representatives of the USI made a presentation as I was not in Dublin that day but I look forward to reading a copy of it with which I have been presented. I am sure there are even more problems than those that were rightly identified and articulated by the USI and the various other student unions. While changes were experienced from decade to decade throughout the 20th century, the changes seem to be occurring much faster and society and people's circumstances have become much more complex in recent years. One of the reasons for that, to which the Minister of State and Senator Finucane adverted, is multiculturalism as a result of the wave of immigration into Ireland. Many existing indigenous challenges, problems and barriers confronted young people over the years but the phenomenal changes that have taken place here due to the onset of the Celtic tiger and its many consequences have thrown up various difficulties for our young people.

Ordinarily when we discuss such difficulties, to many of which Senator Finucane referred, we refer to the pre-schooling, formal schooling, the formal college education and the third level structures that have been in place, which by and large have been phenomenally successful in guiding our young people through the challenging transition from childhood to adulthood. Various programmes were introduced in recent years to address the lacunae or shortcomings that the formal education system has not succeeded in addressing. As we constantly review, revise, assess and evaluate the programmes in place, we become more acutely aware of those lacunae and of those young people who have fallen through the net. Hence, the introduction of the various support programmes within the formal education system.

I want to address some of the issues the Minister of State has been competently and successfully addressing under the youth affairs section of her Department. I compliment her on the manner in which she has promoted, expanded, reviewed, revised, evaluated and secured substantial additional funding for the programmes under her remit in the youth affairs section of the Department. I pay tribute to her because not only is she working through statutory organisations such as the VECs with which I am familiar, having been involved with the VEC in Dublin throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, but through many voluntary organisations outside the normal school and college system which have been doing fantastic work.

As this is the first time I have spoken on youth affairs in this House in recent years, I want to pay a glowing tribute, in as strong and forceful a manner as I can, to the marvellous work done by the many voluntary organisations as well as the statutory organisations such as the VECs, without which the lacunae in the systems would be unbelievable and which the Government would not be able to fill in terms of funding. People refer to the black hole in terms of addressing problems in the health service, but there would be perhaps an even greater black hole in the community in enabling our young people to develop social and personal relationships but for the incalculable contribution of the those voluntary organisations. I refer to youth clubs, the National Youth Council of Ireland, the GAA, of which I have been an active member almost since the time I was born, the FAI, the IRFU and the scout movement, with which I had the honour to be involved in the 1970s before I was elected to the other House and for which I have high regard. I am keenly aware of the manner in which that movement has also responded strongly, positively and effectively to the needs in the area of youth affairs.

When I visit GAA clubs around Dublin, particularly on the north side — they do not let me down the south side too often — I have been very impressed by the role played by the nursery schools. I am not as familiar with the FAI but I understand that it and the IRFU promote similar developments. I compliment the GAA on its major initiative across north Dublin in establishing, developing and promoting these nursery schools. It is very encouraging to see mothers and fathers bringing out their daughter or son, some as young as five or six years old, with a hurley in their hands that might be bigger and heavier than the children themselves, or with a football. This happens in the nursery parts of the clubs, and such contributions are a significant measure in taking on the challenges that have been referred to here today and in many other places.

As I pay tribute to the Minister of State and the youth affairs section of the Department, I note there have been two very significant milestones in the development of services to the youth work programmes and services. The first is the Youth Work Act 2001, which has been referred to. As in many other areas, there was not a proper framework on this issue. We have known through the last decades of the past century, either by reading about it or experiencing it ourselves, that the organisations involved lacked co-ordination and focus despite the best determined efforts of the National Youth Council of Ireland. With the Act, these are on a statutory basis and are structured, targeted and focused.

Another significant factor is the establishment of the national youth work development plan. The main ideals, goals and principles which underpin the plan are laudable. They reach out and target many of the matters referred to by Senator Finucane, as well as the lacunae that still exist.

If we are to move forward we should do so in a structured way and this is what the Minister of State is doing through those two vital landmark achievements. It is not simply a question of how many youth clubs are in the country. I believe in youth clubs and I would like to see one in every parish, but they should not just exist for the sake of it. In this regard I recently read a comment concerning the lacuna which exists with regard to these clubs. If they are established there must be a structured framework of policy, facilities, programmes, review and evaluations on an ongoing basis. There should be a national framework through which youth clubs and the National Youth Council of Ireland can feed. Youth clubs should not be here today and gone tomorrow, which is what many of us have too often experienced in the past.

I commend the Minister of State for the great progress which has been made over the past few years in expanding the service, evaluating it, establishing the development plan, implementing the Youth Work Act and securing additional funding. I have no doubt that the young people of Ireland will value the contribution made through the various structures as they move into adulthood.