Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and appreciate him agreeing with me that these figures are worrying. They are startling. I completely support youth diversion programmes, the work of expanding them and measures on the ground in terms of access at the weekends, the strategies with hard-to-reach children and the widening of the age eligibility. We have a question to answer around how that funding is being used. Based on my figures in Dublin, it has gone from €4,700 per participant in 2019 to over €10,000 in 2023. It cannot just be about the services at this level, UBU or the youth diversion projects. It has to be with a holistic view. There is a role of here for local community safety partnerships and better integration of youth workers with the wider community. That is going to be really important. There have to be enough youth facilities and services for young people. I benefited from youth work when I was younger. Having that volunteer ethos, having youth workers that are a part of a community is invaluable. Their work is invaluable. We need to see increased funding in universal youth services also.