Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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789. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the status of the provision of a youth officer for County Kildare in view of the fact that it is a county with one of the highest youth populations and one of only a few without a dedicated youth officer; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37757/16]

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 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 and involve approximately 1,400 youth work staff in 477 projects and 40,000 volunteers working in youth work services and communities throughout the country. In 2016, funding of €51m has been provided to my Department for these schemes. 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.

In 2016, an amount of €500,405 has been allocated for the projects and services under Kildare Youth Services, which operates under Youth Work Ireland. My Department provides funding to Kildare Youth Services under the Special Projects for Youth Scheme in respect of six local youth projects in Athy, Naas, Leixlip, Newbridge, the Curragh and Kildare town and a Youth Information Centre in Naas.

I, and officials of my Department have met, and continue to meet, regularly with many voluntary organisations and groups providing services to children and young people to see how we can work together to bring about the best possible outcomes for young people, having regard to resources available to us and to ensure that the programmes and services being provided are relevant and responsive to young people’s needs. Ongoing engagement and dialogue with the youth sector organisations and with young people themselves are priorities in the development of the policies and services to support young people’s development and learning.

The Department is engaging with Kildare Wicklow ETB with regard to the provision of a full-time youth officer for County Kildare. In the interim, the county shares a youth officer with Wicklow, who is very active in both counties.