Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 196: To ask the Minister for Health and Children her views on support for Arts for Young People; her further views on the value of the various programmes for the development of children and young people; the role her Department will play in ensuring that appropriate levels of funding will continue to support programmes and projects in the arts for young people; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45358/09]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The arts have a valuable role to play in the lives of young people as a means of expression in the development of the individual. To support the engagement of young people in the arts in Ireland, the Youth Affairs Unit of my Office grant-aids a number of initiatives including the National Youth Arts Programme (NYAP) which it co-funds with the Arts Council and which is delivered by the National Youth Council of Ireland. In 2009, the Youth Affairs Unit provided €69,278 to core work of the Programme. A further one-off grant of €10,000 was also provided in 2009 to the NYAP towards the cost of running an Artist in Residency Programme.

In addition, the Youth Affairs Unit provides annual grant-in-aid to the National Association for Youth Drama (NAYD) and the Young Irish Film Makers (YIFM) under its Youth Service Grant Scheme. The NAYD is the development organisation for youth theatre and youth drama in Ireland which supports youth drama in practice. An amount of €131,702 was provided to the organisation in 2009. With regard to the YIFM, €75,600 was provided in 2009 to help it provide access to, and participation in, film making for young people. With regard to funding for 2010, this will be considered in light of the finances available to the Youth Affairs Unit.