Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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263. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she has considered increasing capital expenditure for Scouting Ireland to expand its facilities to cope with ever growing numbers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19926/16]

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. 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. 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 was a 2.5% increase over 2015. It 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. Scouting Ireland receives funding under the Youth Service Grant Scheme administered by my Department. In 2016 current funding of €834,606 has been allocated to the organisation. In addition, Scouting Ireland will receive  €200,000 under the Dormant Accounts scheme to support its Lelievlet youth employability initiative for young people who are disadvantaged. 

Some €2.6m in capital funding, provided in Budget 2016, is also being made available to my Department to support small scale projects, including refurbishment, health and safety fit-outs and accessibility improvements in local voluntary youth services. This year the scheme has been made available to national organisations, such as Scouting Ireland, to assist their work. The applications for capital grants, under the scheme, are currently being processed and I hope to announce details of the successful applicants in the coming weeks.