Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1704 and 1705 together.

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.

As the Deputy is aware, Budget 2017 has provided an additional €5.5m in current funding to my Department to support the provision of youth services. This will bring the total youth funding in 2017 to €57.4m. 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. My Department has commenced the process with national organisations and local services to identify service development needs for 2017 and to agree the 2017 allocations.

Budget 2017 also provided €2.6m to my Department for a capital funding scheme for youth projects and services. Work on the development of a new capital funding scheme for 2017 is underway and my Department is engaging with each Education and Training Board Youth Officer to identify the capital needs of the youth sector. I hope to announce details of this new capital scheme in the coming months.

The Deputy will be aware that a number of funding schemes supporting youth services were the subject of a Value for Money and Policy Review in 2014. The review involved an in-depth scrutiny of the impact youth service provision has on young people’s lives. The review made a number of recommendations for the future operation of the youth schemes and their development in the years ahead. This includes the development of a new youth funding scheme.

Work on the development of this scheme has been prioritised by my Department and consultations with youth services are continuing with a view to introducing the new youth funding programme in line with the review over the coming years. My Department has embarked on an exercise, in conjunction with Pobal and each Education and Training Board (ETB) Youth Officer, which will map youth service provision across the State. This mapping exercise will assist my Department and the relevant ETB in developing a detailed socio-demographic profile in terms of both population numbers and deprivation levels. It is my intention that the mapping exercise will inform future development and investment in youth services and will inform the establishment of a small number of new sample projects, to be commenced during 2017. In addition, my Department has already provided funding for the commencement of five new “Sample Value for Money and Policy Review” youth projects in 2016. These projects are based in South East Cavan, West Wicklow, Drogheda, County Louth, in Cahir, County Tipperary and in the Fethard/Killenaule area of Tipperary.