Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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973. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the amount of funding made available to various youth and youth support organisations in the course of 2018; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45363/18]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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As the Deputy may be aware in 2018 an extra €1.5 million was allocated in current funding to support the provision of youth services, which brought the total current youth funding available to my Department to €58.9 million. The additional funding is being used for programmes that target disadvantaged young people.

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.

These schemes include the Youth Service Grant Scheme, under which funding is made available to thirty national and major regional youth organisations. Targeted supports for disadvantaged, marginalised and at risk young people are provided through the Special Projects for Youth Scheme, the Young Peoples Facilities and Services Fund Rounds 1 and 2, Local Drugs Task Force Projects and certain other programmes including the Local Youth Club Grant Scheme and Youth Information Centres.

The Local Youth Club Grant Scheme supports youth work activities at a local level. These grants are made available to all youth clubs and groups through the local Education and Training Boards. Each year, in the region of 1700 local youth clubs are eligible to apply under the scheme.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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974. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the extent to which she continues to support an organisation (details supplied) throughout the county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45364/18]

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.

As the Deputy may be aware, in 2018, €58.9 million has been allocated in current funding to support the provision of youth services which 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.

In 2018, an amount of €539,425 was allocated by my Department 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 also provides funding for a Youth Information Centre in Naas.