Averil Power (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State said that the Department is considering the proposals that have been made by the City of Dublin Youth Services Board. I sought a debate on this matter to ask for the whole approach to be reconsidered in that context. One of the problems is that greater cuts will be imposed on some projects than on others, as the Minister of State mentioned. The VECs and the City of Dublin Youth Services Board have essentially been placed in the invidious position of having to try to choose between equally worthy initiatives. I invite the Minister of State and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to visit the projects I mentioned to see the work they are doing in communities that have struggled for a long time. A great deal of work had to be done to get these projects off the ground. They built up a position of strength over the years before the succession of funding cuts of recent years. It is unfair for projects to be pitted against each other.

The Minister of State suggested that this process will be good for smaller projects because a smaller cut will be imposed on them. That does not assist larger services like Sphere 17 in Darndale, which is one of the biggest projects in my local area.

Under the rationale set out by the Minister of State, the project will suffer severe cuts, despite serving one the most disadvantaged areas in the country. The City of Dublin Youth Services Board faces an impossible choice as it weighs up the merits of the various projects, each of which deserves continued support in its own right. I urge that the Minister would reconsider the approach that has been taken to this issue. I invite the Minister and Minister of State to visit the projects in question to see for themselves the work that is being doing in the areas concerned, the difference the projects are making and the amount of money they are saving the State in other areas.