Written answers

Wednesday, 10 July 2019

Department of Children and Youth Affairs

Youth Services Provision

Photo of Gino KennyGino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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76. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will address the lack of provision of services for youth in Newcastle, Dublin 22 in view of the growth of the youth population in the area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29690/19]

Photo of Gino KennyGino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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79. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her attention has been drawn to the lack of youth services in mid-western areas of Dublin; the steps she will take to address the issue in view of the negative impact it has on an area with the highest growth in terms of youth population; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29689/19]

Photo of Katherine ZapponeKatherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 76 and 79 together.

The overall budget allocation for the youth sector in 2019 is € 60.4m in current funding. This is an increase of €8.5m from the youth funding provided in 2016. This level of funding supports the delivery of a range of youth work programmes and services for all young people, including those from disadvantaged communities, by the youth work sector. The additional funding will be used to support programmes in areas where there are disadvantaged young people and where there is a pressing need for targeted services to meet the needs of young people.

The Targeted Youth Funding Scheme has been allocated €35.18 million for 2019 to provide out of school supports to young people in their local communities to enable them to overcome adverse circumstances and achieve their full potential by strengthening their personal and social competencies. Young people aged 10 to 24 years of age who are described in the National Youth Strategy as marginalised, disadvantaged or vulnerable will be the primary target group for services available through the new scheme.

This reform will provide an opportunity to identify need and to focus funding on young people most in need of intervention. Future development and investment in youth services will be informed by the mapping exercise completed in 2017, which mapped youth service provision across the State as well as an Area Profiling, Needs Assessment and a Service Requirement tool which was designed in collaboration with the Education and Training Board (ETB) sector and was officially launched in January 2019. This mapping will assist the Department and the relevant ETB in developing a detailed social demographic profile in terms of both population numbers and deprivation levels. My Department is committed to working with ETBs to identify need and explore ways to address this need where it emerges.

I understand that for 2019, 19 youth projects and a youth and community centre in the area referred to in the Deputy’s question collectively received in the region of €1.5m through the Targeted Youth Funding Scheme.

In 2018, 17 local youth clubs received in the region of €28,500 through the Local Youth Club Grant Scheme. It is estimated that a similar amount of funding will be utilised by local youth clubs in 2019.

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