Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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1638. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will reconsider the application for funding by an organisation (details supplied). [36974/17]

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

In 2017, €57.4 million has been allocated in current funding to support the provision of youth services, an increase of €5.5 million on 2016. The additional funding is being used for programmes that target disadvantaged young people and to assist national youth organisations in their work to support local voluntary youth services.

Earlier this year, I was please to approve funding of €800,000 for the establishment of new youth projects and for the augmentation of a small number of existing youth services to meet new challenges arising from population increases. This additional investment is being provided in regions of the country where there is a pressing need for services to meet the needs of young people.

Each of the sixteen Education and Training Boards, including Laois and Offaly ETB, was invited to nominate locations within their catchment areas for the establishment of new services and to nominate a project or service to be considered for augmentation. In total twenty-eight applications for new services were received, including an application for a new service which would be partly based in Mountmellick.

Based on the recommendations of a specially convened appraisal committee, and given the very limited resources available for the scheme, I approved the establishment of nine new targeted youth services across the country.

The application in respect of Laois was, unfortunately, not successful on this occasion. Should further moneys be made available to my Department in the coming years, it is my intention to invite Education and Training Boards to nominate locations for the establishment of new services.