Vol. 492 No. 2
158 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the strain being placed on youth organisations as a result of the consistent drop of lottery allocations to youth organisations; if he will ensure that more lottery funding is made available for youth organisations; and whether the Irish Girl Guides organisation received lottery funding in 1997 or to date in 1998. [13758/98]
The overall level of funding being made available for the provision of youth work services in 1998 is £13,567,000. This represents an increase of 1.7 per cent over the provision for 1997. The funding allocation for the Irish Girl Guides for the provision of youth work services is made available from the proceeds of the national lottery. A sum of £193,000 was made available for this purpose in 1997 and a similar amount has been allocated for 1998.
Unfortunately, due to the high level of ongoing commitments, it has not been possible in the current year to provide for increases in the level of grant aid made available to individual organisations and initiatives. However, additional funding is being sought for 1998, and in the event of such funding, Exchequer or national lottery, becoming available, the level of funding support to youth organisations generally will be reviewed.
