Joint Committee on Health and Children debate -
Thursday, 29 May 2014

Youth Work in Ireland: Discussion

Chairman

The committee is in public session. Apologies have been received from Deputies Sandra McLellan, Catherine Byrne and Peter Fitzpatrick and Senator Jillian van Turnhout. I would like to wish Deputy Fitzpatrick, who had a slight accident at the weekend, a speedy recovery.

I remind members, witnesses and people in the Public Gallery to ensure their mobile phones are switched off as they interfere with the broadcasting equipment. The purpose of today's meeting is a discussion on the important work of Comhairle na nÓg and the National Youth Council of Ireland. Members will be aware that Comhairle na nÓg and the National Youth Council operate in all the local authority areas countrywide in providing young people with opportunities to get involved in the development of local services and policies. The Ceann Comhairle has a liaison role with Comhairle na nÓg and the National Youth Council in developing synergies. I commend all involved on the work they do.

I welcome Mr. Bertie Nesirky, Tipperary Comhairle and member of CNN National Executive Council, Mr. Cillian Byrne, Meath Comhairle, Ms Kayleigh Power, Galway Comhairle, Ms Becky O'Connell, Waterford Comhairle and Mr. James Doorley, Deputy Director, and Mr. James O'Leary, President, National Youth Council of Ireland. Also present in the Public Gallery are Ms Karyn Farrell and Ms Anne O'Donnell from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. I thank everybody for attending today's meeting. As a committee, we believe it is important to have ongoing liaison with Comhairle na nÓg and the National Youth Council of Ireland.

Before beginning I draw the attention of all witnesses to the position in regard to privilege. I ask witnesses to note that they are protected by absolute privilege in respect of their evidence to the committee. However, if witnesses are directed by the committee to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and they continue to do so, they are entitled thereafter only to a qualified privilege in respect of their evidence. Witnesses are directed that only evidence connected with the subject matter of these proceedings is to be given and they are asked to respect the parliamentary practice to the effect that, where possible, they should not criticise or make charges against any person or persons or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable. Members should be aware that under the salient rulings of the Chair they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the House or an official by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.

I understand Ms Kayleigh Power will make the first opening statement.

Ms Kayleigh Power

We thank the committee for the invitation to attend this meeting. My name is Kayleigh Power. I am accompanied today by Mr. Bertie Nesirky from Tipperary, Mr. Cillian Byrne from Meath and Ms Becky O'Connell from Waterford city. Today, we would like to focus on the work being carried out by us as members of the National Executive of Comhairle na nÓg. We will be happy to answer any questions which members may have following our presentation. I will now pass over to Mr. Nesirky who will outline what exactly Comhairle na nÓg does.

Mr. Bertie Nesirky

Comhairle na nÓg are child and youth councils that give young people a voice in local issues. Although there are many issues affecting the youth of Ireland today each area has its own set of unique challenges. Comhairle fits in perfectly with this and works with the local authorities and local youth services which understand these issues to ensure young people's voices are heard and understood.

The Comhairle na nÓg national showcase takes place every two years and provides all comhairlí across the country with the opportunity to get together and showcase their work. This year's showcase on 20 November coincides with the 25th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, on which convention Comhairle na nÓg is based. We would like to extend an invitation to all members of the committee to attend the showcase at which more than 500 members will showcase their work. Dáil na nÓg is the main decision making body of the Comhairle na nÓg national executive, of which we are all members. This event, funded by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, brings together more than 200 Comhairle members who discuss the recommendations and work of the national executive for the following two years. This year's recommendation was that we hold a national youth gathering for second level students with music and events to improve attitudes towards mental health. I will now hand over to Mr. Cillian Byrne who will speak about our work to date.

Mr. Cillian Byrne

Our definition of mental health is: "Mental health is a state of mind, and how we cope with positive and negative experiences and emotions on a day-to-day basis." We want that young people to understand and accept that mental health, good or bad, is a part of everyone's life; that there are mental health facilities available and that there should be no shame is using them to improve the mental health of all young people.

I will now hand over to Ms Becky O'Connell.

Ms Becky O'Connell

Since Dáil na nÓg, there have been five meetings of the national executive. In our meetings to date we have concentrated on the types of gathering that would best realise our recommendations and the expected outcomes in this regard. We came up with key messages which we want to communicate in our events. At our last meeting, we came up with four short descriptions of what our event or events will be, including four hashtag. Young people and all Comhairle members are now voting online in this regard. We are fortunate to have inherited a supporting team from the Houses of the Oireachtas to support us in the work that we do. The team appointed by the Ceann Comhairle - some of whom are present today - includes Deputies Jerry Buttimer and Aodhán Ó Ríordáin and Senators Jillian van Turnhout, Kathryn Reilly and Averil Power. We look forward to their support as we progress. As a national executive, we are lucky also have a steering committee to assist us in our work.

This steering committee is made up of representatives from the HSE, the National Office for Suicide Prevention, the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals, Headstrong, reachout.com and the school of education in UCD. This committee is very useful in our work as it has a range of expertise in the area of mental health.

Ms Kayleigh Power

As members of the national executive, we were invited to attend the launch of Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, the national policy framework for children and young people. The launch was attended by the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the former Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald. We were lucky enough to be directly involved in the implementation of the policy framework, and as it is such an important topic to us as young people we will be involved with the implementation team at the Department. Members of the national executive will meet the policy consortium of the secretaries general to give feedback on the topics outlined in the policy framework.

As this is the end of the presentation, I thank the committee for its attention and having us here today. I extend an invitation to all members of the committee to attend our showcase on 20 November, which will coincide with the 21st anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. We would be delighted if they could attend. We are happy to answer any questions on our contribution.

Mr. James Doorley

I thank the committee for the invitation to speak this morning. The national body is representative of voluntary youth organisations across the country and that has been epitomised by the presentation from Comhairle na nÓg. Our vision is one where all young people are empowered to develop skills and confidence to fully participate as active citizens in an inclusive society. We have 48 member organisations which are really active in every community. I have no doubt Deputies and Senators are very aware of the work of youth organisations at a local level and there are approximately 40,000 volunteers, which is one of the great aspects of youth work in Ireland. Youth services have a very active cohort of people working with and for young people, and there are approximately 1,400 staff in those organisations. A study by Indecon in 2012 indicated that up to 382,000 young people are active in youth organisations in Ireland, which is one of the highest participation rates in the EU.

The National Youth Council of Ireland elects a voluntary board every year, led by our president, Mr. James O'Leary, and there are 19 full and part-time staff. The work of the council is divided into two areas, with the first representing the interests and supporting the work of the organisations working with young people. For example, this would involve promoting the value of youth work and non-formal education in the lives of young people and giving them the skills they need not just in employment, but as active citizens. We undertake research and we engage with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and other Departments to be a collective voice, as the Government would deal with us rather than 48 different organisations in getting views on a range of issues. We try to bring the views together before bringing them to Government. We work through the National Youth Work Advisory Committee, which is made up of representatives of youth organisations as well as Departments working on youth work policy.

We have also been very active in promoting the national quality standards framework, which is around trying to ensure that youth services provided are of high quality and support young people. We have been very active in the area of child protection and we have operated the child protection consortium, which processes the vetting which we send to Thurles, and we also work on legislation in the area.

We work on issues affecting young people, and essentially our member organisations come together and bring us their views through consultation with young people and youth workers dealing directly with young people. I will not go through the full list but we have done much work on issues like youth unemployment, emigration, alcohol misuse, mental health, equality and active citizenship. For the past couple of months, for example, we have been on a registration drive to encourage young people to be registered for the local and European elections and also to encourage young people to participate in that process.

The mandate is to speak about the work of the National Youth Council of Ireland and we are involved in many areas but I am conscious of the time. I will briefly discuss four areas. The publication of the Brighter Outcomes, Better Futures document by the former Minister, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, is significant, and we acknowledge her work. She has left a strong legacy and I look forward to working with the new Minister, Deputy Charles Flanagan. Within the document is a proposal for a national youth strategy and we are looking forward to working with the Department in developing that. It will be the first time we have had such a strategy in Ireland. The only issue we have is that it is important to have plans, objectives and vision but it is also important to have implementation; we can have all the documents in the world but there must be strong implementation as well.

I wish to highlight the work of youth work organisations. As noted, up to 380,000 young people are involved in and supported by youth services in the country, which is up to 43% of those aged ten to 24 in the country. We have the highest percentage in the EU involved with youth services and over half of those young people are what the Indecon report described as from socially disadvantaged areas. The Indecon report considered the numbers specifically, whereas we might argue that youth work is good or enhances the lives of young people. As somebody who many years ago was involved with youth services, I know its value but in the current environment, the figures must be examined, including how much is being invested and the value for money that can be achieved. The Indecon report indicates that for every euro invested by the State, it saves up to €2.20. Not only is investment in youth services good from a social perspective, but it is also economically sound.

We know other sectors have seen cuts in the past number of years but we argue that youth services have suffered disproportionate cuts from 2008 to 2014, and we are down from €73 million to €49.78 million, which equates to 31% or 32%. That has had an impact, although organisations have tried to work better and protect front-line services. Nevertheless, staff have been made part-time or worked fewer hours, with services having to close as well. As politicians engaging in the area, I am sure the members are aware of that. We are concerned about a potential further cut in the next budget, as that would also hit services.

We have been very active in trying to combat youth unemployment and trying to ensure the voice of young jobseekers can be heard. We did a survey of young jobseekers in 2011 to get their experiences of engaging with the public employment services; we have also held a number of conferences and produced two reports. We were one of the first organisations in Ireland to call for the youth guarantee and we welcome the progress made, as well as the publication of a plan earlier this year. Nevertheless, we are concerned about the pace of implementation. There have been positive steps but we need to do more. There is a concern about the 30,000 young people on the live register for 12 months or more as a recent Central Bank study found that up to 90% of the jobs created in the past year were for people with third level degrees. There is a concern that a cohort of young people with no work experience and limited qualifications will be left behind and we must focus on that. The plan implies that there will be such a focus but we must do more in that regard. It is important to focus on quantity of places and we need more education, training and work experience opportunities. There should also be quality in the work and there is a concern out there that the opportunities provided to young people are not always of quality.

As this is the health committee, there has been much more work on the areas of alcohol and tobacco, etc. We support the work of the Government in this respect and the Opposition parties are also very supportive of action to deal with alcohol misuse in Irish society. We are concerned about the impact on youth people, including the immediate impact and long-term damage, and we did some work in 2009 on the impact of alcohol advertising on young people.

We got young people over a period of months to record their experience of engaging with advertising. They said they all thought the advertising on television, outdoor advertising and in sport was brilliant. It clearly showed that alcohol advertising has an impact on them.

We support the proposals in the national substance misuse strategy report. We were members of the group and we believe the issues of price, availability, marketing and advertising must be addressed, particularly marketing and advertising to young people. We welcome the fact that the Government is consulting on the drinks industry's sponsorship of sporting events, as that has an impact. We would say there is a problem there and there is evidence to suggest that price, availability and promotion have an impact. We must move towards actions at this stage.

The committee received a copy of the presentation so I spoke about it very quickly. We will be happy to answer the members' questions on it as it is quite difficult to give an overview of it in a few minutes.

Chairman

I thank all of our guests for their presentations. I call Deputy Ó Caoláin.

Deputy Robert Dowds

Before Deputy Ó Caoláin speaks, I must offer my apologies. I have to go to two other locations now. It is not that I am not interested in what the witnesses have to say, but I must leave.

Chairman

Deputy Dowds is also a member of the Committee of Public Accounts which is meeting at the same time.

Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

Perhaps Deputy Dowds would let us know how he is managing to do that. I have been trying for years to be in two places at the one time.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an foireann ó Comhairle na nÓg. I welcome the team representing Comhairle na nÓg. I have a number of brief questions. I will not start by saying the presentation was excellent as I took it for granted that it would be, and it was. It is important to have this type of engagement. I noted what the representatives asked of us and it is a very short list. They are not very demanding in the context of those who appear before the committee on a more regular basis. However, the representatives have indicated that they would like to appear before the committee again at a future date and I would be very interested in that. I am sure the committee would be delighted to accommodate that opportunity because this type of engagement is very important and useful for us as legislators.

I note that Comhairle na nÓg's showcase event is taking place in November in Croke Park. I hope it will be very successful. It will focus on the rights of the child and the 25th anniversary of the introduction of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Each of the 34 comhairlí will make presentations or organise the showcasing of their experience and views in regard to that. The last Dáil na nÓg in 2013 had a focus on mental health and it is in that context that the representatives wish to return to meet the committee. That is not the focus of the showcase in November. When do the representatives expect to progress their ideas and their engagement on mental health issues impacting on young people in the 12 to 18 year old age group? I note that Dáil na nÓg meets every alternate year. Is that further engagement scheduled for next year, 2015, or is there another event they are working towards specifically on that subject? In what timeframe would the representatives wish to return to meet the committee on that issue?

There is not only this statutory committee of the Houses of the Oireachtas but there is also an ad hoc cross-party group on mental health issues, comprising a representative of each of the political parties and the Independent Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas. They meet on a regular basis and work on mental health reform. It might also be of interest to create an opportunity to engage with that cross-party group. The fact that we have a cross-party group on mental health is a statement of shared acceptance of the importance of addressing this issue. For far too long it has been left to the margins in society and it must become a part of the central political address of these Houses and across Irish society today. Nowhere is it more obviously required than in helping young people to prepare for the challenges of life. This is something on which we can have further meetings.

With regard to Comhairle na nÓg and how it engages initially, would each of the representatives tell us how they became involved? They are from a disparate range of locations across the country and there is an opportunity for people in both the city and county administrations to engage, but how does one become involved? How proactive is Comhairle na nÓg in seeking the involvement of new people? The choice of Croke Park is very good. Sporting organisations that cater to young people would appear to be a logical point of engagement to open the work of Comhairle na nÓg to a wider body of young people and, hopefully, to encourage and entice more to become directly involved. How proactive is Comhairle na nÓg in promoting its work and encouraging more participation? We would have a greater understanding of that if we knew how the representatives first became involved. I would be grateful to hear that.

I thank James O'Leary and James Doorley for attending the meeting today. I have met James Doorley on many occasions and thank him for his contribution. However, my questions are for our important visitors this morning, with no disrespect to my fellow senior representatives.

Senator Colm Burke

I thank the representatives for their good presentations and for their involvement in Comhairle na nÓg. I also thank the representatives of the National Youth Council of Ireland.

I started my career through my involvement in youth work. I was on the national executive of Foróige when I was young. In fact, it was interesting to hear the representatives mention money because the first time I came to the Oireachtas was when we were lobbying for funding from the relevant Department. At that time funding was cut back substantially and that was the reason I visited the Oireachtas when I was very young.

On the issue of mental health and young people, there have been many developments over the last number of years but do the representatives, as young people, believe enough is being done by the statutory agencies, be it the Department of Health or the HSE, the representatives' organisation, youth clubs and youth organisations on this area? Do they believe more could be done? Have they identified a specific area where they believe an improvement could be made if further funding was provided? Mental health is a big issue for young people given the pressures they are under. The representatives have direct contact with young people so they would be more aware of what is happening on the ground.

Second, with regard to the funding issue, I note the point about the 31% reduction. It is a substantial reduction and, having been involved in a youth organisation, I am aware of the importance of youth clubs and youth organisations. Do the representatives think there is more we can do?

We have many different agencies of which the delegations may not be aware. In terms of the health budget, 2,600 organisations receive funding from the HSE. Would things improve if there were more rationalisation and amalgamation of the support groups? For instance, in Cork the youth organisation I was in was amalgamated with Foróige. Would more amalgamation lead to better value for money? Are there areas where moneys being spent by statutory agencies do not deliver value for money? Where could that money be better used by the organisations present? Have the organisations identified such areas? We could invest that money into youth organisations whom I think do an amazing job for the amount they receive.

The third issue which I wish to touch on is socially disadvantaged areas. Has there been a major improvement in service delivery for young people in such areas over the past ten years? Have there been cutbacks in what was available to the young people living in these areas? While a lot of people are involved in sports organisations in disadvantaged areas, a huge percentage of young people do not get involved in such organisations. When I was involved in youth organisations, a huge vacuum existed in many of these areas. Does it still exist? A lot of work has been done over the years. What has been achieved over the past ten years? Could a lot more be achieved?

Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor

I thank the witnesses for their excellent presentations. It is great to see Kayleigh and Becky here who represent 50% of Comhairle na nÓg. That is a percentage we do not enjoy in the Dáil, only 16% of which comprises women. It is great to see 50% representation and for women to put their voices forward. What can we, as politicians, do better for young people?

My next question relates to schooling and education. Should Comhairle na nÓg have more of an input into decisions about curriculum, for example, how the junior certificate will be examined and how history may not be taught as a subject in schools? What do the delegations think about those areas of education?

Chairman

Kayleigh will act as anchor and so will direct and organise responses. If the others wish to respond, I ask them to please feel free to interject and express their views.

Ms Kayleigh Power

The question of what we think politicians can do better for us is a broad one. At the moment our work is entirely related to mental health. We need politicians to act as a platform that promotes our work. We want to be able to return here in a few months when we have more work done on our event and planning. That would be a huge help to us.

As regards whether we believe Comhairle na nÓg should have a greater impact on the school curriculum, the topic of Comhairle na nÓg and the national executive is determined each year at Dáil na nÓg. The topics are voted on based on what young people believe to be the biggest issues at the time. For the next two years our issue will be mental health and, therefore, we will not be working on school curriculums. However, as an individual I believe young people should have a greater impact on the school curriculum, what is taught and how it is taught.

Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor

Mental health was mentioned. Has Comhairle na nÓg arranged for doctors and professionals to speak to the organisation and executive on the topic or is it just talk among themselves?

Ms Kayleigh Power

Earlier Becky outlined that we have a steering committee and an Oireachtas committee working with us. Therefore, I ask her to go through her list again.

Ms Becky O'Connell

The representatives are from the HSE, the National Office for Suicide Prevention, the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals, Headstrong, reachout.com and the school of education in UCD.

Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor

How does that assistance filter down to the members of Comhairle na nÓg?

Ms Kayleigh Power

Speakers attend our meetings where they tell us about their work. They also help us with our event and provide any help they can on their area of expertise.

Senator Colm Burke asked if the HSE and the Government have done enough to help youth clubs in local areas. That issue differs between comhairlí. Increasingly, we have found that there are enough youth facilities but not enough awareness about them. Our local project this year is to increase awareness of local facilities but we need the help of politicians to raise awareness.

Chairman

How receptive, at a local level, have Comhairle na nÓg members and organisations been towards supporting and giving information on mental health?

Ms Kayleigh Power

Within my comhairle there has been a great effort to make mental health something that is spoken about more openly. That is definitely the aim of the national executive as well. The goal of the national gathering is to make mental health a topic that people are willing to speak about and to help them realise that there is no shame in seeking help.

Chairman

Is there a particular mental health issue that people have been affected by or is it a compendium of issues?

Ms Kayleigh Power

Mental health is a very broad topic. We do not want to narrow it down because we do not want to alienate anyone. We want to include all young people.

Chairman

Do the other representatives wish to comment? No. Does anyone wish to respond to Deputy Ó Caoláin's questions?

Ms Kayleigh Power

There were a lot of questions and I hope we will hit them all. I ask Mr. Nesirky to take some of them.

Mr. Bertie Nesirky

The Deputy asked when our music event would be held. The national executive has a term of two years and our recommendation for the next two years is to work on the event. Therefore, it makes sense to hold it at the end of the two year term and thus have the maximum amount of time for planning. When we set a date we will be sure to send the committee an invite.

The Deputy also asked how each one of us became involved in Comhairle na nÓg. Like many other comhairle members, I got involved through school. That is how many comhairlí send out invites. Usually representatives from each school in the county attend an annual general meeting of a local comhairle and that is where elections are held. In my comhairle we try to mirror the local county council with constituency lines and a certain amount of people in each area. That is how I got involved.

Chairman

How old are you, Bertie, as a matter of interest?

Mr. Bertie Nesirky

I am 17.

Chairman

Do you think that the people aged between 16 and 17 years, or even younger, are interested and willing to participate actively in helping to make lives better for their age group?

Mr. Bertie Nesirky

One cannot underestimate how willing people are to make a difference. Cillian is in first year and I am in fifth year, as are Kayleigh and Becky. There is a huge variety of age in our national executive and in comhairle itself. A couple of comhairlí have some primary schoolchildren members at the moment but we try to keep the age below 18 years.

Ms Kayleigh Power

Deputy Ó Caoláin asked for clarification about the national showcase. Its aim is to allow each comhairle to present the work that it has done on the topic of mental health. We will use the event to celebrate the fact it coincides with the 25th anniversary of the UN Convention for the Rights of the Child. However, mental health will be the main topic of the day.

I became involved in Comhairle na nÓg after being approached by my transition year co-ordinator last year who thought I might have an interest in the matter. Therefore, this is only my second year of involvement. I attended the annual general meeting and was very impressed by comhairle's work. Also, I wanted to become involved in improving conditions for young people in Galway city. That is how I got involved.

Mr. Cillian Byrne

Like Bertie, I got involved through my school. We went to an AGM where I made a short speech and was elected. I was very young at the time and did not fully understand what comhairle meant. Over time I got to know what it was about and was happy to work with comhairle. Then, from comhairle I was elected on to the national executive.

Ms Becky O'Connell

I was in a youth club at the time and found out about the AGM through that. I have been a member of Comhairle since 12 years of age and I am now 17. This is my fifth year and I was elected onto this body this year.

Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

In Becky's case it was a little different because she came to it from a youth club but the other three came from schools. How proactive is the organisation? Is there some dependence on the disposition towards this of transition year heads? Is there a programmed way of informing young people about the work of Comhairle across schools, youth clubs and sports organisations? Is there a way of disseminating information to young people?

Ms Kayleigh Power

Comhairle is incredibly proactive in trying to recruit members. The main way of doing so is to approach schools and to allow the students to attend the AGM. We also make use of social media and approaching youth clubs and other available facilities. We want to have as broad a range of people from different backgrounds as possible so that we can represent the needs of every background with our local areas.

Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

I will conclude with a comment about the Oireachtas all-party group on mental health. We work under the secretarial support of Mental Health Reform, which is another umbrella organisation that does a lot of good work. It may be a useful engagement to organise an opportunity for that cross-party group. The committee is statutory and we all represent our political groupings within these Houses of the Oireachtas. Ideas might come out of us sitting together to discuss initiatives and presentations. The Oireachtas committee system is limited and perhaps we could open up an opportunity for wider engagement with Members of the two Houses. As a representative on the cross-party group on mental health, I am happy to endeavour to facilitate it if the witnesses would like to return. We can explore that with Mr. James Doorley and Mr. James O'Leary at some point down the road.

Ms Kayleigh Power

On behalf of the national executive, we would be delighted to speak with the cross-party group and to be as involved as possible and to present our work. I thank the members for bringing forward this opportunity.

Chairman

With regard to the presentation on youth employment, Mr. Doorley highlighted the number of jobs created, with 90% going to those with third level education and higher. With regard to working in a cross-European alliance, have we any response received from the Government agencies?

Mr. James Doorley

There is a review of the role of apprenticeships and trying to broaden the range of apprenticeships. Traditionally, apprenticeships have been concentrated in the construction sector. The recently published apprenticeship review is trying to spread the range of sectors across which employers engage in apprenticeships so that people do not have to go to third level. In terms of job creation, it is a concern for us because many of the jobs are dependent on domestic demand. Examples include jobs in the hospitality sector or the retail sector. It is an issue in terms of the youth guarantee because we are supportive of providing a guarantee of a quality education or training opportunity. For the young people involved, they want to think they have a chance of getting a job at the end of it. It will be a major challenge for the youth guarantee and for the Government as a whole to ensure young people who have just done the leaving certificate or left school before that have hopes of getting jobs when they enter the guarantee. Organisations at local level are doing very good work linking with SME employers and asking whether there are opportunities locally for young people on training courses who might fit the remit. The Department of Social Protection is doing more on employer outreach, which is important, and much of it will be dependent on more of a pick-up in the economy. We welcome the jobs growth. If it is all at higher level, it is great for returning migrants. We think it is likely young people will come back if jobs are created but the 30,000 young people I talked about will need a lot of support before they get into that area. It is a challenge but it is more about ensuring young people are prepared and doing more on employer engagement. Hopefully, the economy will continue to make progress.

Senator Colm Burke

Returning to the issues I raised, I wonder about funding and its more efficient use. Can the witnesses respond?

Mr. James O'Leary

Within the youth council and youth organisations, there is a great willingness and eagerness to work together. Some 2,600 organisations are funded through the health services.

Senator Colm Burke

These are not youth organisations.

Mr. James O'Leary

The merger between Foróige and Ógra Chorcaí in Cork, which worked well, was given as an example. There are 48 youth organisations in Ireland and a small number of them provide mainstream services by larger organisations. Examples include Foróige, Youth Work Ireland, YMCA and the scouting organisations. They are the bigger outfits and the rest of the 48 are more specialist services. It allows for diversity within the youth sector. Some of the examples, such as BeLonGTo, which works with LGBT young people and SpunOut, which works with youth mental health using the IT platform, and our organisation is engaged with young travellers. ECO-UNESCO is involved in environmental youth work and YCW is a faith-based youth organisation. I am trying to present a picture of the larger organisations providing services in all counties and the smaller specialist organisations providing specialist services in supporting them or delivering directly.

With regard to rationalisation, a value for money report is being done on youth work. If there was support to examine it, we could explore the issue. Sometimes mergers do not give savings and the great value in the youth sector is its diversity. A small number of those organisations manage to reach out to some 382,000 young people. Sometimes we can go looking for something through savings and merging organisations and it may not be there.

Through diversity, almost any young person in Ireland can find an organisation that will meet his or her needs. The organisations within the youth work sector work well together. If there is an opportunity to explore whether more efficiencies can be found, we will certainly engage in it.

Chairman

At this juncture, I thank Mr. Doorley from the National Youth Council of Ireland, NYCI, for his positive comments on the committee's work. It is important that we develop our work on the issues of alcohol and tobacco. I thank Ms Karyn Farrell and Ms Anne O'Donnell of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs for their assistance in organising this meeting.

The clerk and I have been discussing the national showcase initiative on 20 November. As it will be a Thursday, it will coincide with a day on which we meet, but I hope that the committee will agree to send a delegation to that important event after our meeting. Perhaps we could hold our meeting as part of the showcase in Croke Park. It is important that we send a message of support and highlight the commendable work being done on participative democracy and active citizenship. Ms Power or Mr. O'Leary might liaise with Mr. Paul Kelly, our clerk, after the summer holidays so that we might include this in our work programme.

We might further our relationship with Deputy Ó Caoláin's cross-party group on mental health and provide a platform for its work. The group is important and mental health is an issue that we should not be ashamed to discuss.

Senator Colm Burke

May I make a suggestion? Our guests have outlined valuable information about the 382,000 people out to whom they are reaching. I suggest that they send a circular on the 48 organisations to all Oireachtas Members providing a brief summary of the work being done and how it provides value for money. Youth clubs provide significant value for money. Sporting organisations have a media profile, but youth organisations do not have the same opportunity to get the message of their valuable work across. Giving that information to Members would be helpful. Some 382,000 is a lot of young people and a great deal of good work is being done.

People involved in youth organisations undergo considerable training and have skill sets, be they in business, college or work. Youth clubs are about people working together. We need to highlight what the youth organisations are doing.

Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

I welcome the initiative of the Chair and the clerk in respect of our trip to Croke Park. I always look forward to going to Croke Park, so I am confirming my intention to join people there.

Chairman

Being from Monaghan, the Deputy rarely gets to go there. Only once every-----

Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

Our women players have been stars on the field-----

Chairman

That is correct.

Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

-----where the men could not.

Chairman

On a more serious note, I thank Mr. Nesirky, Mr. Byrne, Ms Power and, in particular, Ms O'Connell for attending. They may have been a little nervous, but these are the Houses of the people. We represent those people and our guests represent theirs. It is important that we build synergies and develop relationships. I thank Mr. O'Leary and Mr. Doorley for attending. I also thank members. Apologies were received from Senator van Turnhout and Deputies McLellan and Catherine Byrne, important members of the committee who take a great interest in youth affairs. They have other commitments this morning but asked us to convey their apologies. I thank Senator Burke and Deputy Ó Caoláin.

The joint committee adjourned at 10.45 a.m. until 9.30 a.m. on Thursday, 5 June 2014.