Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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172. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding funding; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17236/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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In recent years there has been a significant investment in the development of youth café facilities in Ireland which has been made possible, in the main, through the provision of capital funding to my Department. In 2013 a capital allocation of € 1.5 million was made available to my Department for the Youth Café Scheme and some 30 new youth café projects were approved and will move into development stage over the coming months.

My Department estimates that between 75 and 100 youth café facilities now operate across the State and more are coming on stream. These facilities are proving hugely beneficial to local communities offering support to young people, and opportunities to participate in activities that are of interest to them and that are on offer at times that suit their normal activities.

The Youth Café Scheme is intended to enable fit-out, refurbishment or building enhancement projects for the start-up of new youth cafés through the provision of ‘once off’ capital funding. The scheme does not provide for grant aid or on-going funding to meet current costs such as staff, management or other on-going costs. To support youth cafes in development and maintaining their services for young people, my Department has published two guides Youth Cafés in Ireland, A Best Practice Guide(2010) and Youth Café Toolkit, How to set up and run a youth café in Ireland(2010).

The criteria for the capital funding scheme places a high priority on the need to plan for youth café projects to be sustainable in the long term; for example new applications must demonstrate how day to day running costs (not eligible for funding) would be met, for example, through partnering with existing services for young people. This is an important aspect of the programme as there is no funding available in my Department to support running costs associated with youth cafes.

I am aware of the project in question and the valuable services it provides to young people in the local community. I have arranged that Pobal, which assists my Department with the administration of the youth capital scheme, make contact with the project to discuss their situation and to provide information on the practice and experience of youth cafes in running of their services, which may assist the project in question in devising its plans for sustainability into the future.