Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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84. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the reason the number of funding administrative bodies has been decreased; the reason funding administering arrangements formerly carried out by six large youth organisations were transferred to the City of Dublin Education Training Board in 2012; if she will indicate who those six youth organisations were; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53840/13]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The funding for youth projects under the Special Projects for Youth Scheme, the Young Peoples Facilities and Services Fund, Rounds 1 and 2 and Local Drugs Task Force Projects is administered by my Department through funding administration bodies. In the main, these are the Education and Training Boards (ETBs) but they also include other bodies such as the HSE, some local authorities and, up to recently, some of the larger national youth organisations.

The City of Dublin Youth Service Board (CDYSB), a statutory board established in 1942, under the City of Dublin ETB, is one such body which distributes allocations to youth projects. The CDYSB, on behalf of CDETB, has for several years, undertaken the administration of approximately 70 youth projects in the Dublin City area and has developed a strong track record in managing these payments.

In January 2013, in an effort to streamline the tasks associated with the financial management of funding for projects to achieve greater efficiency in the administration of funding, the administration tasks, formerly carried out by six national organisations were transferred to CDYSB. The six organisations are Youth Work Ireland, Crosscare, Foróige, Involve, YMCA and ECO-UNESCO

It is anticipated that, over time, the successful streamlining of the administration of the funding for the youth projects will deliver benefits in terms of saving on the administration costs incurred under the present arrangements and efficiencies for both the Department and projects themselves.

In recent years, the number of bodies holding funding administration status from my Department has reduced from approximately 40 to some 30 at the start of 2013. It is anticipated that the number of funding administration bodies will continue to reduce as the integration of former VECs into the Education Training Boards is completed.