Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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19. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her plans to increase the funding to youth services nationally; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14851/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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My Department administers a range of funding schemes and programmes to support the provision of youth services by the voluntary youth sector, 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. The voluntary youth sector involves approximately 1,400 paid staff, including youth workers and 40,000 volunteers working in youth work services and communities throughout the country.

I am pleased to advise the Deputy that Budget 2016 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.

In addition €2.6m 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.

The Government is committed to building on these developments for young people and to the implementation of the National Youth Strategy 2015 to 2020 to secure improved outcomes for them in key aspects of their lives. I will shortly announce details of the successful applications that are to be funded under the new Youth Employability Initiative. The Initiative which is funded under the Dormant Accounts scheme will target those young people aged 15 to 24 years who are most at risk of unemployment and who are not in education, employment or training. Under the Initiative, €600,000 will be provided to the voluntary youth services, to support the provision of innovative programmes for these young people to enhance their employability skills and competencies. My priorities include the further development of this type of initiative, as well as other support programmes for vulnerable young people. The options for additional investment in these supports will be considered in the context of the annual Estimates and Budgetary processes and the implementation of the National Youth Strategy in line with the Programme for Government.