Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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751. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the total youth service grant allocation to all 16 ETB in 2024, in tabular form; if she will seek to immediately increase grant allocation for the Laois Offaly Education Training Board to enable an increase in service-provision capacity; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7364/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I am committed to supporting the delivery and development of youth work services and opportunities for young people across the 16 Education and Training Boards (ETBs) including Laois Offaly ETB.

For 2024 €133,250 was allocated to Laois Offaly ETB under the ETB Youth Service Grant, to support the ETB in carrying out their functions relating to the administration of the Department’s funding, and their role in co-ordinating and supporting youth services. This increased by 4% in 2025 to €138,580.

A total of over €800,000 was allocated to Laois Offaly ETB in 2024 to support the provision of youth services in the area, with over €436,500 being allocated under the UBU Your Place Your Space Scheme. This included additional funding of €12,000 allocated to the ETB under the Resilience and Effectiveness Scheme, which enabled funded organisations to develop capacity as well as to engage in and expand on innovative and responsive service delivery types to cater for and respond to emerging needs. The UBU allocation to Laois Offaly ETB in 2025 has been raised to €460,334 and the Resilience and Effectiveness will increase in 2025 to €16,000.

Furthermore, Laois Offaly ETB received €36,333 for the new Targeted Youth Employability Support Initiative in 2024, raising to €60,000 in 2025. Laois Offaly ETB received €82,544 in Local Youth Club Grant Scheme funding in 2024, which will increase to €99,191 in 2025. In 2024 over €87,000 was allocated to support the integration of young Ukrainians under the Migrant Integration Fund. In addition, Minor Grant Scheme funding of €50,000 was made available to the ETB to provide additional programme related costs associated with the provision of universal youth work supports for all young people.

The funding allocation provided to each of the 16 Education and Training Boards in 2024 in relation to the ETB Youth Service Grant on be behalf of my Department is detailed in the accompanying table.