Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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354. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the plans in place to provide funding for additional youth work supports in County Kerry, specifically the provision of four full-time universal (non-targeted) youth workers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29340/26]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Since 2020, government investment in youth work has risen from €62.3 million to €90.1 million in 2026.

Under the National Development Plan, €4 million in capital funding will be allocated annually to youth services from 2026 to 2030, providing multi-year certainty for the first time. This allows better long-term planning, investment, and value for money.

The department does not at present directly fund youth worker posts to deliver universal youth work. The department supports the delivery of youth clubs and groups, which are generally led by volunteers, through the Youth Services Grant Scheme (YSGS) and the Local Youth Club Grant Scheme (LYCGS).

The YSGS provides funding to national youth organisations to enable them to deliver quality services to young people that support their social and personal development. The total allocated under the YSGS in 2026 is over €16.7 million.

The LYCGS is an annual funding programme provided by the department and administered by ETBs. It offers financial support to volunteer-led youth clubs and groups to help cover the costs of delivering activities for young people, primarily those aged 10 to 21. In 2026, the scheme has an allocation of over €2.8 million.

Given the importance of volunteers to the delivery of universal youth work through clubs and groups across the country, the department has established the Volunteer Activation Fund to boost recruitment, retention, and support of volunteers. €850,000 has been allocated to this fund for 2026.

The primary scheme by which the department funds youth work posts is UBU Your Place Your Space, the largest youth services scheme funded by the department. Budget 2026 secured an increase of UBU funding to over €54.5 million.

In 2025, €1.2 million was secured for the establishment of ten new UBU Your Place Your Space (UBU) services across the country which will provide targeted youth worker-led support for up to an additional 1,000 young people, bringing the total number of services to 258. Kerry ETB were one of the successful applicants resulting in the establishment of the KCYS UBU Greater Kenmare Project.

Kerry ETB has also been allocated €40,000 in Resilience & Effectiveness (R&E) funding for 2026. The Resilience and Effectiveness (R&E) Initiative is a UBU initiative to support UBU funded organisations to deliver a more efficient and comprehensive service to young people, while ensuring that they have sufficient resilience to operate effectively in the medium to long term.

At present no department funding has been allocated for the establishment of additional new UBU services in 2026.