Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 May 2004
69 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Education and Science his plans to further implement and provide resources to enable the Youth Work Act to become fully operational; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14375/04]
View answerThe Youth Work Act 2001 was enacted on 1 December 2001 and provides a statutory basis for the development of youth work in Ireland. The Act followed on a widespread consultation process and provides a legal framework for the provision of youth work programmes and services to be organised by the Minister for Education and Science, the vocational education committees and national/regional youth work organisations.
It was never the intention that the Act would be implemented fully at once. Section 1 of the Act provides for sections to be commenced at different stages. To date, sections 2 to 7, inclusive, 17, 18 and 24 have been commenced.
A sub-committee of the national youth work advisory committee was established to make recommendations on the requirements necessary for the implementation of the various sections of the Act. This sub-committee comprises representatives of both statutory and voluntary sectors, as well as my Department. The work of this sub-committee is ongoing and preparatory work is also being carried out in regard to sections 19, 20 and 25 of the Act.
The implementation of further sections of the Act will depend on the availability of the necessary resources. While it has not been found possible to make funding available for this purpose in the 2004 Estimates, it is my intention that further discussions will take place between my Department and the IVEA/CEOs' association and the National Youth Council of Ireland in the context of the Estimates for 2005. These discussions will take place as appropriate and necessary.
I point out that in addition to a 4% increase in the financial provision for youth work generally in 2004, an additional amount of €0.5 million has been made available towards the implementation of the national youth work development plan in 2004.
