Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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532. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the total expenditure allocated to maintain existing levels of services in respect of youth affairs, in each of the past five years, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4205/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I am very pleased to have secured a total ELS increase of 8% across all the Youth Affairs Unit's sub-heads for 2025, bringing my Department's investment in Youth Affairs to a total of €86.2 million. This increased level of funding has enabled the expansion of youth services' capacity to engage more young people across both universal and targeted youth services

The table below outlines the current funding allocation for the Youth Affairs Unit, detailing the resources provided to maintain the existing level of service across all their sub-heads.

Youth Affairs Unit Current Funding Allocation ELS

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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533. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the total expenditure allocated to new development measures in respect of youth affairs in each of the past five years, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4206/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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In 2025, new development measures funding will support the UBU Your Place Your Space funding scheme, which targets disadvantaged young people with evidence-informed interventions. An additional €1,200,000 was secured to establish 10 new UBU youth services, providing targeted youth worker-led support to up to 1,000 young people in areas where it is most needed.

Additionally, as part of the Government’s commitment to tackling Holiday Hunger, a new pilot initiative will be implemented in 2025. This initiative aims to help feed up to 1,000 young people aged 10 to 18 years, who are at risk of lacking access to a hot meal or any substantial meal during school closure times. This pilot initiative has received a fund of €500,000 for 2025.

Other functions to which new development measures funding has been allocated over the past five years include supporting volunteers in youth work organisations under the Volunteer Activation Fund and opening up the Youth Services Grant Scheme to new applicant organisations.

The annual breakdown of the new development measures funding provided by the Department between 2021 and 2025 in respect of youth organisations and services can be found below.

Youth Affairs Unit Funding Allocation NDM

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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534. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of children and young people who benefited from engagement in youth work services for each of the past five years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4207/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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In 2024, an estimated 405,000 young people have benefited from engagement in youth work services. This steady increase in engagement highlights the ongoing commitment of the government to support and enhance youth work services.

The Government remains dedicated to investing in and expanding these services to ensure that more young people can benefit in the years to come. Action 11 of Opportunities for Youth, the National Strategy for Youth Work and Related Services aims to ensure that effective reporting systems are in place so that the Department has the data it needs on outputs in order to enhance service delivery for young people.

The estimated number of young people who have benefited from engagement in youth work services for each of the past five years can be found in the table below.