Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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547. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the level of reporting that has been sought by the city of City of Dublin Youth Service Board from a club (details supplied) in Dublin 5 in terms of the range, volume and frequency of activities it organises with the funds it receives from her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41303/17]

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. St Monica's Youth Project received €111,711 in funding under the Young Peoples Facilities and Services Fund in 2017.

The City of Dublin Youth Service Board (CDYSB) acts as funding intermediary for the organisation concerned. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform Circular 13/2014 outlines the responsibilities for both grantors and grantees in relation to expenditure of public funds by way of disbursement of grant funding to all bodies, including agencies, companies, committees, advisory groups, charities or individuals, whether directly from the Votes of Government Departments/Offices or through an intermediary body or series of bodies.

Youth funding grants are awarded on the basis of completed renewal of applications forms which are submitted to the Department via the funding intermediary. These renewal applications request details of the service's proposed programmes, objectives, outputs and outcomes for the year in which funding is sought.

All services in receipt of Department of Children and Youth Affairs grant aid are required to submit annual signed audited accounts/ financial statements. Services are also required to submit progress reports via the grant administering body. These progress reports request information on opening times, target groups, numbers of staff, volunteers and young people. The reports also request details of core objectives, programmes provided, core outputs, contact hours with young people, number of days the service is provided and number of attendees per month participating in the various programmes.

The service level agreement in place between my Department and CDYSB to facilitate the administration of grant funding provides that CDYSB will carry out the financial management and administrative system for the management and monitoring of expenditure and associated governance. The governance arrangements in place within CDYSB include a review system which is a formal documented process that examines the financial governance and service status of an organisation in receipt of funding against plans, agreements and best practice comparators. This review system includes inter aliaservice reviews, verification visits, unscheduled visits and follow up.