Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

22. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her views on whether the current geographic spend on youth services is adequate to provide the same level of service on a countrywide basis; if her attention has been drawn to particular examples where organisations which received funding under the youth service grant scheme concentrate their activities in particular areas of the country and, as a result, funding is unbalanced around the State; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6642/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My Department administers a range of funding schemes, programmes and supports to the youth sector. In 2014, funding of €50.530m including €750,000 for a new capital funding programme has been provided to my Department for these schemes. The schemes include the Youth Service Grant Scheme, under which funding is made available on an annual basis to 31 national and major regional youth organisations, the Special Projects for Youth Scheme, the Young People's Facilities and Services Fund Rounds 1 and 2, Local Drug Task Force projects and certain other measures including the Local Youth Club Grant Scheme and Youth Information Centres. The funding supports the delivery of a range of youth work programmes and services for all young people, including those from disadvantaged communities, by the voluntary youth sector. There is some 1,400 youth work staff in 477 projects and over 40,000 volunteers involved in the provision of services and activities for young people.

In a context of the very difficult budgetary constraints that have arisen in recent years there have been no applications for the funding of new projects sought under the schemes since 2008. In the determination of the annual allocations for the schemes, my Department, while seeking to meet the savings requirements under the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure, has sought to ensure that the front line youth services, particularly those for the most vulnerable young people are maintained and protected, as far as is possible, from the impact of the necessary reductions in funding.

I am aware of the challenges that youth organisations face in their efforts to maintain and develop their services to respond to the needs of young people in different parts of the country. I, and officials of my Department regularly meet with youth organisations and youth projects from different areas. Officials of my Department engage, on an ongoing basis, with youth sector organisations on matters to do with ensuring the availability of quality services to meet young people's needs, the challenges that youth organisations encounter in responding to new demands on their services and in managing the budgets available to them over the year.

My Department is undertaking a comprehensive Value for Money and Policy Review of youth work funding schemes that support the provision of services to disadvantaged young people. The review will consider the rationale and objectives of the current youth programmes. It will, inter alia, examine the extent to which the youth funding programme objectives have been achieved, comment on the effectiveness and the efficiency of the programmes and their compatibility with the overall strategy of my Department. The review will make recommendations for the future operation of the youth programmes. Its findings will shape their development in the years ahead to ensure quality, effective, value-for-money services that secure the best outcomes for young people. Work is well advanced and it is anticipated that the review will be completed in the coming months.

The review's recommendations will further inform the development of a new youth strategy, planned by my Department for later this year. The youth strategy will aim to bring about improved co-ordination between Government departments and youth sector organisations with a view to maximising the effectiveness of the State funding available to support services for young people throughout the country.