Áine Brady (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for children and youth affairs, Deputy Barry Andrews.

As the Senator will be aware, on 12 April the Minister of State announced details of a dedicated youth café funding scheme of €1.5 million from the dormant accounts fund. This is the first dedicated youth café funding scheme in Ireland. The scheme is concerned with the structured promotion and development of new and existing youth cafés around the country. It was launched with two associated publications, Youth Cafés in Ireland: A Best Practice Guide and Youth Café Toolkit: How to Set Up and Run a Youth Café in Ireland.

As the funding scheme is once-off in nature, there is an inevitable focus on capital outlay and initial set-up costs. However, the criteria set out in the official guidelines for the scheme also focus on the broader issues of long-term sustainability and service planning, to which the Senator referred. The associated publications mentioned examine, discuss and establish a policy context for a youth café model in Ireland and deal with the issues being raised by the Senator in some detail. Applications must demonstrate that the proposed youth café would provide a safe and high quality space for young people, based on the guidance set out in the youth café toolkit. The space must have a clear purpose and applications must demonstrate that maximum usage of the facility will be a priority.

The youth café model envisaged in the current funding scheme is a multi-agency one; therefore, applications for strand 2 funding must be from consortiums which may comprise statutory, community or voluntary stakeholders. The scheme is not designed to provide for ongoing staffing costs but instead encourages realignment of existing services for young people to help achieve a more focused delivery of such services. Priority will be given to applications from consortiums which demonstrate leverage of funding from other resources for finance, staffing or site provision. This places an emphasis on sustainable and tangible service delivery.

Funding is available for various project types. Strand 1 is concerned with improving existing youth cafés through small-scale refurbishments. The maximum amount that can be awarded by each city or county development board, CDB, to applicants is €10,000. Strand 2 is aimed at new youth cafés, for which the maximum amount that can be awarded by each CDB to applicants is €100,000, which encompasses up to €10,000 for start-up costs.

The six general assessment criteria against which applications will be assessed, as included in the guidelines, and on which all funding applications will be appraised are as follows: evidence of need, which requires evidence of a demonstrable need for a youth café in the area, proof of engagement with young people and details of how funding would be spent; evidence of additionality, which requires applicants to show how the proposed facility would augment and interact with existing youth facilities in their areas, improve the co-ordination of youth services and provide a focal point for youth services in their areas; consistency with Government programmes, which requires applicants to demonstrate an understanding of the concepts and definition of youth cafés, as identified in the documents published by the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs; capacity of the group or organisation, which requires evidence that all operational aspects have been adequately considered and the consortium members have experience of operating or managing youth-based facilities - details of service planning and evidence of the particular skills and knowledge base of the consortium are also required; consideration of sustainability, which requires a clear demonstration of how the funding, if awarded, would yield significant results in the form of a viable and sustainable facility - details of plans to ensure maximum usage of the facility in the medium term and evidence of a plan to meet day-to-day running costs once the facility has been developed and opened are also required; and strength of proposal, under which it is determined whether a proposal meets the general aspirations of the dormant accounts fund initiative and addresses the core issues for development of youth cafés, as outlined in the associated documents.

The youth café funding scheme is the first such dedicated scheme in Ireland. It is concerned with promoting the structured development of new and existing youth cafés around the country by giving support to local organisations which are providing youth services. The criteria for the scheme place a clear focus on both long-term sustainability and service planning. It will be a highly competitive process and the Minister of State is satisfied that only those proposals which demonstrate clear and sustainable improvements in the services available to young people in their catchment areas will be successful under the programme.