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Youth Cafés Expenditure

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 March 2014

Tuesday, 25 March 2014

Questions (973)

Jim Daly

Question:

973. Deputy Jim Daly asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the reason an application for funding for a youth cafe distributed by her Department and assisted by Pobal was refused; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13751/14]

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Written answers

In 2013 capital funding of €1.55m was made available by my Department's for a new Youth Cafe Programme. The new scheme was announced in February 2013.

Pobal assisted my Department with the application and evaluation process for the programme.

Applications for new youth cafés were invited from organisations and consortia involved in the provision of services to young people, with at least 3 years’ experience in the development of youth services. It was a requirement of the scheme that applications were to be submitted ‘online’ by 12 April, 2013. Detailed guidelines on the application and appraisal process and supporting documents in relation to best practice for youth cafes was made available to applicants on the Pobal website.

Some 95 applications for support under this scheme were received by Pobal.

To be eligible, applications were required to demonstrate that the proposed new youth café would be developed in line with my Department’s Youth Cafes in Ireland: a Best Practice Guide; that the facility would be a target service for 12 – to 25 year olds and aim to meet the needs of the local youth population, particularly in disadvantaged areas. Criteria also included the extent to which the proposed new youth café would add value to existing provision for young people in a locality, the capacity of the organisers to effectively manage the project, the involvement of youth in the development of project, how the project would be sustainable and the strength of the overall proposal.

Eligible applications were then appraised on the basis of a detailed assessment of the extent to which the criteria were met. The applications that scored well in the initial process with Pobal were further evaluated in the Department taking account of youth population, existing youth service provision and geographic considerations. Following the completion of the assessment and evaluation process some 30 proposals for new youth cafe projects were approved for funding and for inclusion in the next phase of the youth café programme. These successful applicants have now entered the pre-contracting development stage and are working with Pobal to progress their projects in this regard.

Details of the successful projects are available on my Department’s website at www.dcya.gov.ie.

I have been advised that the application from the group in question did not score sufficiently high in the evaluation process to be included in the list of successful projects. Should the group wish to contact Pobal, arrangements can be made to provide comprehensive feedback on their application under the scheme.

I have arranged for a copy of the detailed guidelines on the application and appraisal process provided to all applicants to be sent to the Deputy.

Question No. 974 answered with Question No. 958.
Question No. 975 answered with Question No. 936.
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