Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the Minister to the House and thank him for taking this motion. The debate is timely given the publication earlier this week of EUROSTAT data on poverty and social exclusion and the recent circular about funding from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs to youth organisations. Irish children and working age adults are more at risk of poverty or social exclusion than any other children in western Europe according to EUROSTAT data released earlier this week. The figures suggest Irish children are more likely to face social exclusion and financial poverty than their counterparts in 22 of the other 26 member states. Some 38% of Irish under-18s are most at risk of one of three forms of poverty are social exclusion: living in households with disposable income of less than 60% of the national median, being unable to pay bills on time, or living in households where adults have paid work for less than 20% of their available time.

We all agree youth services are a vital part of community development across the State but cuts of 10% to the baseline funding for 2012 in respect of the schemes, the youth services grant scheme, the special projects for youth, young people's facilities and services funds rounds 1 and 2, youth information centres and local drugs task force projects will jeopardise front-line support for young people, especially those hit hardest by the recession and by disadvantage. At a time when 38% of Irish under-18s are most at risk of one of three forms of poverty and social exclusion, and with one in five people not in education, employment or training, the State should be investing more in the services to ensure the young people are supported.

On the day when EU Ministers are discussing and agreeing upon the youth guarantee and trying to ensure no young person sinks into unemployment or long-term unemployment, Ireland is cutting the funding for youth services to deal with these very groups of people. As holders of the EU Presidency, should we not be leading by example and empowering and equipping organisations and services at the forefront of dealing with these young people and making sure they have the resources they need? Should we not be showing we are serious about young people? This is important given the EUROSTAT figures published recently. At the IBEC conference, Mr. Barroso said:

Here in Ireland, and all around Europe, too many young people are asking if they will ever find a job or have the same quality of life as their parents. We need to give these young people a better prospect. That is why, in the recent budget negotiations, the Commission fought to secure a large increase in funding for youth.

How will the Irish Government ensure that, coming out of the proposals from the EU Ministers meeting, we will match the resources and make sure the increase in funding is targeted at youth and important groups that have already been dealt a 10% cut from last year? Eurofound revealed that the economic loss to society of not integrating young jobseekers throughout the EU is estimated at ¤153 billion. The economic cost to countries like Ireland is estimated to be in the region of 2% of GDP so the cost of youth unemployment could be at ¤3.16 billion. Youth organisations have a critical role to play in that reintegration and cutting their funding is short-sighted when we consider growth, stability and jobs, which are the focus of the Presidency.

The recent Indecon economic assessment for the National Youth Council of Ireland proved youth work is value for money, with every ¤1 invested by the State in youth work saving ¤2.20 in the long run. That makes the cuts to these youth services even more difficult to understand, especially when those services are themselves stretched to the limit and cannot sustain any further cuts.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I am taking this Adjournment debate on behalf of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Fitzgerald, and I welcome this opportunity to address this issue and thank the Senator for raising it.

Some ¤53.173 million is being provided in 2013 by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs to support the delivery of a range of youth work programmes and youth services for all young people, including those from disadvantaged communities, by the voluntary youth work sector. The focus of this financial support in 2013, as in previous years, is on the consolidation of existing youth work provision and on the safeguarding, as far as possible, of front-line programmes, services and jobs, particularly in disadvantaged communities.

This funding is delivered through a number of schemes including the youth service grant scheme, special projects for youth, youth information centres, young peoples' facilities and services fund, local drugs task force and local youth club grant scheme. Youth work programmes and youth services are delivered to some 400,000 young people by over 1,400 youth work personnel, who in turn support a large volunteer base of some 40,000 people.

As part of our efforts to address Ireland's deficit, all Departments have had to find savings. The comprehensive review of expenditure published in December 2011 requires savings to be made in the Department's youth work budget. The 2013 allocation for youth work, between current and capital, will be in excess of ¤53 million. This remains a significant level of funding.

Nonetheless the Minister is acutely aware that the youth work sector has seen its budget reduced significantly over recent years. The savings required under the comprehensive review of expenditure in respect of this year amount to ¤5.393 million, which equates to almost a 10% reduction on 2012 funding. It should be noted there were no reductions in the national funding envelope for the local youth club grant scheme in 2012 or in 2013. This scheme funds approximately 1,600 groups throughout the country, which in turn provide activities to 100,000 young people.

In addition, ¤1.5 million will be provided in 2013 for youth cafes and youth projects. My Department will be announcing further details regarding the application process for the 2013 funding programmes very shortly. This follows on from funding of ¤500,000 which was provided in 2012 for the development of a number of youth cafes which had applied for previous youth cafe funding schemes.

The reduced allocation in the youth budget in recent years has required much tighter budget management and prioritisation. Officials of the Department have met with representatives of the youth sector on an ongoing basis to ascertain the sector's views on how best to minimise the impact of budgetary constraints with a view to consolidating, as far as is practicable, the progress made in previous years and to safeguard the services for the most vulnerable young people.

The Department has also exhorted all the national youth organisations and vocational education committees to revisit their level of expenditure to determine where cost savings can be achieved, bearing in mind the challenging budgetary situation that we face at this time.

To maximise the use of the funding available for youth services and programmes, the Department has afforded flexibility to the grant administering bodies to propose the reconfiguration of the allocations provided, having regard to the knowledge available to these bodies about the needs of young people at local level. Any such local proposals or recommendations require the approval of my Department before they are implemented. For example, earlier this week the City of Dublin Youth Service Board submitted a proposal to the Department requesting that percentage reductions which are different to those outlined in the CRE would be applied to the projects in the Dublin city area. The Minister is examining this proposal which is just received and will be responding to CDYSB in relation to the recommendations very shortly.

The Department has commenced a formal and comprehensive value for money review of youth funding and this is expected to report by mid-year. The Department has also prioritised the improvement of quality provision in youth work through the publication and ongoing implementation of a national quality standards framework for youth work. The Department has also developed national quality standards for volunteer-led youth groups which will be launched next week.