John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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31. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her plans to restore funding to the youth services and facilities fund back to 2011 levels; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15202/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I am pleased to confirm that I have allocated an extra €5.5m in current funding to support the provision of youth services in 2017. This will bring the total youth funding by my Department to €57.4m, an increase of 10% over last year's allocation. Following the cuts during the economic crises, I have now restored youth funding to 95% of its 2011 figure, and I hope to be able to make more progress next year.

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 involving approximately 1,400 youth work staff working in youth work services and communities throughout the country.

My Department, along with all government departments, was required to deliver substantial savings on all funding programmes in line with the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure 2012 – 2014. My Department sought to ensure that front line youth services, particularly those for the most vulnerable young people, were protected as far as is possible from the impact of any necessary reductions in funding.

I am pleased that my Department is now in a position to provide further investment in youth service provision which is close to restoring the funding levels that existed prior to 2011. My Department has carried out a Value for Money and Policy Review of a number of schemes supporting youth services. The review involved an in-depth scrutiny of the impact youth service provision has on young people’s lives and made a number of recommendations for the future operation of the youth schemes and their development in the years ahead.

I want to streamline the various funding schemes for youth services so that we maximise their benefit and target money to best effect. I have prioritised the work on developing a new integrated funding scheme as recommended by the Value for Money and Policy Review. Consultations with youth services are continuing with a view to introducing this new and fit for purpose youth funding programme as soon as possible.

Finally, I am committed to continuing to seek additional support for youth services in Budget 2018 and beyond.