I propose to take Questions Nos. 107 to 110, inclusive, together.
My Department administers a range of funding schemes and programmes to support the provision of youth services to young people throughout the country including those from disadvantaged communities. The funding schemes support national and local youth work provision to some 380,000 young people and involve approximately 1,400 youth work staff in 477 projects and 40,000 volunteers working in youth work services and communities throughout the country. In 2015, funding of €49.93m has been provided to my Department for these schemes. The funding for these schemes is administered, in the main, by the Education and Training Boards on behalf of my Department.
My Department has robust financial control and governance procedures in place, in line with its accountability for public funding and the provision of services for young people. Mechanisms have been put into place to ensure best practice. These include compliance and reporting obligations to be met by organisations that receive funding from my Department, financial, audit and governance reviews, where appropriate and other procedures. Education and Training Boards are expected to take a pro-active approach to ensure that youth projects funded by my Department demonstrate appropriate governance arrangements to deliver on these objectives. Within each Education and Training Board area, Youth Officers are the point of contact for projects in respect of application, monitoring reporting and compliance matters. This responsibility may involve the examination of documentation or verification visits to individual projects, generally by appointment. The number and frequency of such visits is a matter for each Education and Training Board, in accordance with their financial and governance procedures and their knowledge at local level. My Department does not have readily available the names of youth projects throughout the country that have been the subject of examination in line with these procedures in 2014.
I am advised that the project in question has been allocated €121,087 by my Department in 2015. The funding of the project is administered by the City of Dublin Youth Services Board of the City of Dublin Education and Training Board. I have arranged for the matters raised to be brought to the attention of the City of Dublin Youth Services Board. I will revert to the Deputy when the information is to hand.
