Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 579: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the total capital spending per annum on youth cafés since the establishment of the funding scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3469/12]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 580: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the names, locations and funding allocation under the capital fund for youth cafés in 2011; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3470/12]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 581: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her strategy regarding the youth café capital funding scheme, including ensuring that support is provided for those areas most in need and provision for additional current funding to meet ongoing running costs of the youth cafés established to date and those she plans to establish in 2012; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3471/12]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 579 to 581, inclusive, together.

A total of €1.7m (approximately) in funding has been available from 2010 to date for the specific support of the provision of youth cafés. The bulk of this funding was allocated to the dedicated competitive funding scheme announced in 2010. The majority of the funds awarded from this scheme (approximately €1.5m) were distributed to the successful projects in 2011 and the facilities are gradually coming on stream. A further €200,000 was made available by my Department to various youth café projects in late 2011. This brings the total funding (to date) to circa €1.7m. The funding was designed to both provide completely new youth cafés and to support existing youth cafés who needed assistance in providing additional facilities etc. I attach lists of the projects funded to date.

My Department is committed to supporting the development of quality, front-line youth work projects and services which address the changing needs of young people and communities. A key element of this is to support the continued nationwide development of youth café facilities given the considerable benefits they offer for young people to meet in safe drug and alcohol free spaces and most importantly the identification of the need for such spaces by young people themselves.

In support of this priority, I have ensured that as part of the Government's Capital Review that capital funding available for youth projects is to increase from €0.8m in 2011 to €1.5m in each of 2012 & 2013. It is anticipated that a significant portion of this funding (approximately 50%) will be specifically allocated to youth cafés. It is important to state that this is capital not current expenditure. Details of the manner in which these funds will be distributed will be announced in due course.

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs now estimates that between 75-100 youth café facilities now operate across the state and are seen as hugely beneficial to local communities in terms of broader engagement with young people. The projects are in many cases run directly by or in partnership with young people and are popular with teenagers and young people generally. We must ensure therefore that we focus any funding supports to support as many as possible of the existing locations as well as providing targeted funding for new locations.

2011 Alcohol Misuse Prevention / Youth Café Initiative

List of Projects Funded by Minister For Children and Youth Affairs

2010/11 Youth Café Funding Scheme - List of youth café projects funded