Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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146. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs his plans to have future rounds of grant funding for youth cafés; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39671/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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In some recent years capital funding has been made available to my Department to support the provision of new youth cafés. In 2013 a capital allocation of €1.55m for new youth cafés was made available by my Department. In 2012 €.5m was allocated to the scheme.

Pobal assisted my Department with the 2013 scheme. In all 95 applications were received and some 30 proposals were approved for funding. These projects are currently working with Pobal to develop their projects to the next stage.

In 2014, some €.5m in capital funding has been made available to my Department for small capital projects in the youth services. Details of the scheme will be made available in the coming months. There is no capital funding available to my Department for youth cafés in 2014. Youth cafés offer young people a safe, alcohol and drug free space for recreation, non-formal learning and youth focused activities. As such, they can make an important contribution to the development of services to meet the needs of young people in their local communities. The development of youth café facilities is a priority for my Department should further capital funding become available in future years.