Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

I thank the Minister of State for his response. Unfortunately, it is not the one I had hoped to receive nor is it the one that those involved in the forum and the young people who will probably need the service in the future were hoping to receive.

The Government has implemented a number of cuts and budgetary restraints. This applies to the Minister of State's Department and therefore his hands are tied to a certain degree. I wish to bring to his attention that the youth project which existed in Gweedore and which assisted some of these young people has also had its funding withdrawn so there is a double blow here. The diversion project was never in place and I do not know if anything can be done to try to help these young people in the interim. As the Minister of State knows, the cost of sending somebody to Mountjoy jail for six months far outweighs the cost of prevention measures the Garda can offer. Perhaps I will correspond with the Minister of State later to see if anything can be done, even a halfway house, in the interim until public finances are back in order.