Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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9. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he has adequate resources for the provision of youth support services; the extent to which he continues to receive submissions from bodies providing such services regarding the need for ongoing resources; if he will enhance such supports in 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42640/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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My Department administers a range of funding schemes and programmes to support the provision of youth services to young people throughout the country including those from disadvantaged communities. The funding schemes support national and local youth work provision to some 380,000 young people. In 2015, funding of €49.9 m was provided to my Department for these schemes.

I am pleased to advise the Deputy that Budget 2016 has provided an additional €1.1m in current youth funding to my Department bringing the total allocation for the youth services to €51m in 2016. This additional funding will be used for programmes that target disadvantaged young people and to assist national youth organisations in their work to support local voluntary youth services.

An additional €2.25m in capital funding, also provided in Budget 2016, will be used to support small scale projects, including refurbishment, health and safety fit-outs and accessibility improvements in local youth services.

In October, I announced a new €600,000 Youth Employability Initiative, funded under the Dormant Account Funding Scheme. The initiative will provide grants to youth services for innovative programmes that target young people who are not in education, employment or training to improve their employability skills.

Last week, I was pleased to allocate €1.17m in ‘once-off’ funding to assist youth projects that are experiencing budgetary difficulties as they approach the end of the year. The youth projects came to my Department's attention through engagement with the national youth organisations, youth officers in the Education and Training Boards, through representations and submissions received and through regular meetings with youth services in the course of the year.

These additional investments in the voluntary youth services in 2015 and 2016 have been widely welcomed by youth sector interests.