Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Reilly for raising this matter, which I will take on behalf of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald.

The Minister is conscious of the great benefits that can accrue to young people from involvement in youth work and the benefits for society as a whole. Youth projects and organisations present valuable opportunities to young people for their personal and social development. The youth affairs unit of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs supports the delivery by the voluntary youth sector of a range of youth work programmes and services for all young people, including those from disadvantaged communities. These schemes include the youth service grant scheme, which supports 30 national and major regional youth organisations, the special projects for youth scheme, rounds 1 and 2 of the young people's facilities and services fund, local drug task force projects and certain other programmes, including the local youth club grant scheme, youth information centres, Léargas - the Exchange Bureau - 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 nationwide.

This year, the Department has provided funding of €50.53 million, including €750,000 for capital funding, for these schemes. The capital funding element 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. The focus of this financial support in 2014, as in previous years, is on the consolidation of existing youth work provision and on the safeguarding of front-line programmes, particularly in disadvantaged communities. Some additional funding that became available to the Department at the end of 2013 was of assistance in this regard and a number of local youth projects received a once-off grant to assist their sustainability in 2014.

The Department, in line with Government policy, has been required to achieve significant savings on schemes and services. The final allocations for the provision of youth services in 2014 takes account of the additional €1 million which the Minister secured in budget 2014 so as to offset the impact of the comprehensive review of expenditure on youth services and other identified efficiencies. As a result of the additional funding secured, the Minister was in a position to scale back the reductions in 2014 to 3.75 % compared with the 10% and 5%, respectively, proposed in the expenditure review.

The detailed notifications about the allocations and payment arrangements for this year have issued from the Department to all organisations and projects. As in recent years, national organisations and the grant administering agencies which administer youth funding on behalf of the Department are invited, where appropriate, to submit proposals to the Department for the reconfiguration of the funding allocations notified to them across projects and funding schemes to better meet local needs.

The Minister is aware of the challenges that the budgetary constraints raise for youth services. She and her officials will continue to meet representatives of many youth organisations and groups to try to ascertain how we can work together to ensure the most effective and efficient use of the resources available to continue to support the provision of quality and responsive youth services for young people.