Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this Adjournment debate on behalf of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald. I thank the Senator for raising the issue. The youth affairs unit of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs supports the delivery of a range of youth work programmes and services for all young people, including those from disadvantaged communities, by the voluntary youth sector. These schemes include: the youth service grant scheme; the special projects for youth scheme; rounds 1 and 2 of the young people's facilities and services fund; the local drug task force projects; and certain other programmes including the local youth club grant scheme, youth information centres, the European youth in action programme administered by Léargas and Gaisce, the President's award. These funding schemes support national and local youth work provision to some 400,000 young people and involve approximately 1,400 paid staff and 40,000 volunteers working in youth work services and communities throughout the country.

In 2013, €1.75 million was provided for capital projects in the provision of services for young people, made up of an allocation of €1.5 million for new youth cafes and €250,000 for the provision of play and recreation facilities. Pobal assisted the Department with the application and the evaluation process for the youth cafe scheme. Some 95 applications were received. To be eligible, applications were required to demonstrate that the proposed new youth cafe would be developed in line with my Department's "Youth cafés in Ireland: a best practice guide", that the facility would target 12 to 25 year olds and aim to meet the needs of the local youth population, particularly in disadvantaged areas. Criteria also included the extent to which the proposed new youth cafe would add value to existing provision for young people in a locality, the capacity of the organisers to effectively manage the project, the involvement of youth in the development of project, how the project would be sustainable and the strength of the overall proposal.

Eligible applications were then appraised on the basis of a detailed assessment of the extent to which the criteria were met. The applications were further evaluated taking account of youth population, existing youth service provision and geographic considerations. Following the completion of the assessment and evaluation process, 30 proposals for new youth café projects were approved for funding. This included funding towards the cost of setting up a new youth café facility in Kildare town. While an application was received in respect of a new facility in Monasterevin, this application was unsuccessful on this occasion as it did not achieve a sufficiently high score when assessed against the programme criteria.

Some €49.78 million is being made available to support the provision of youth services in 2014. The Department of Children and Youth Affairs, in line with Government policy, has been required to achieve significant savings on schemes and services as indicated in the comprehensive review of expenditure, CRE. The final allocations for 2014 take account of the €1 million allocated in budget 2014 to offset the impact of the CRE on youth services and other identified efficiencies. The funding allocations for 2014 will involve a reduction of 3.75 % on the allocations provided in 2013 for each of the schemes as follows: youth service grant scheme; special projects for youth; young people's facilities and services fund, rounds 1 and 2; youth information centres; and local drugs task force projects.

The youth affairs unit of the Department issued notification of funding for individual youth projects and organisations last week to the relevant grant administering agencies and national youth organisations. In order to ensure that the maximum use is made of the available resources, the Department has in previous years afforded flexibility to youth services and grant administering agencies, mainly education and training boards, to reconfigure the funding allocations made by the Department on the basis of their knowledge of the needs in their respective areas. For 2014, it is open to grant administering agencies and youth services to submit proposals for reconfiguration of the allocations to individual projects, provided the overall financial allocations for the area remain within the allocated funding for the year. This approach will help ensure that we respond to local needs and that the services being provided are relevant to the challenges young people are experiencing and target those most in need. Proposals for reconfiguration of allocations will be subject to the approval of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs.

The new capital funding programme for 2014 involves €750,000 for the provision of youth services to young people throughout the country. It comprises €250,000 for play and recreation initiatives and €500,000 for staff-led youth projects under the various schemes funded by the youth affairs unit of the Department. Details of the youth projects capital scheme, including the application process, are being finalised at present. Pobal will assist the Department with the application and appraisal process. Detailed information and guidelines for applying for the funding will be available in the second quarter of 2014.

It is also worth mentioning that the Government reinstated the sports capital programme last year under the guidance and direction of the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ring. Last year there was in the order of €30 million available for dispersal to sports groups across the country. This year the figure will be close to €40 million. A significant amount of the scoring attributed to applications under that programme will be directed towards facilities that serve young people, particularly disadvantaged young people in their own areas.