My Department provides an annual youth work function allocation to each of the sixteen Education and Training Boards (ETBs) to assist with the cost of their statutory youth officer functions. These functions include the provision, co ordination, administration and assessment of youth work services in its functional area.
The funding allocation provided to each ETB covers the cost of a minimum of one full time youth officer while many of the larger ETBs have multiple youth officers assigned to them.
The youth officer post in Longford Westmeath ETB is currently filled by a 0.75 youth officer. The ETB has recently made a submission to my Department seeking an increased youth officer allocation for 2018. This submission is currently being considered in the context of the overall youth officer allocations for 2018.