Pat Casey
Question:445. Deputy Pat Casey asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her plans to improve funding for youth services in County Wicklow. [49111/19]
View answerTuesday, 26 November 2019
Questions (445)
Written answers
Government investment in youth services has increased since 2016 by €8.5m. In 2019 we have invested €63.6M in current and capital funding in clubs, services and young people. In Budget 2020, I secured an additional €1.396 million in funding. My officials and I are considering the final distribution of this funding and final approval will issue in due course following the publication of the revised estimates volume (REV).
My Department and I are committed to ensuring that every young person in Ireland has access to the transformational power that participating in youth services can bring. This is achieved through the provision of out-of-school supports to young people in their local communities to enable them to overcome adverse circumstances and achieve their full potential by strengthening their personal and social competencies.
The following tables detail the Department of Children and Youth Affairs funding for youth services in County Wicklow in 2019.
Targeted Youth Funding Scheme (TYFS) (Wicklow)
|
Service |
Amount |
|
Connect Bray Neighbourhood Youth Project |
€94,330 |
|
Connect Bray Neighbourhood Project 1 |
€118,997 |
|
Connect Bray Neighbourhood Project 2 |
€101,503 |
|
Ballywaltrim Youth Project |
€48,277 |
|
Little Bray Special Project |
€48,277 |
|
Longstanding (Bray Youth Service) |
€48,277 |
|
At Risk Youth Project |
€14,215 |
|
Bray Adventure Sports Project |
€24,351 |
|
Adventure Sports |
€25,070 |
|
Bray Youth Service |
€107,091 |
|
FAI Football in the Community Officer |
€24,477 |
|
Bray Travellers Project Ltd |
€2,230 |
|
Wicklow Traveller Development Group Ltd |
€824 |
|
TOTAL |
€657,918 |
Targeted Youth Funding Scheme (Wicklow and Kildare*)
|
Service |
Amount |
|
Football in the Community (4 new towns) |
€8,262 |
|
Sports Access Program 2011 |
€1,813 |
|
Sports Promotion Unit |
€120,080 |
|
TOTAL |
€130,155 |
Revised Youth Funding Scheme (Wicklow)
|
Service |
Amount |
|
East Wicklow Y.S. Arklow (Crosscare) |
€206,844.00 |
|
West Wicklow Y. P. Inst 4 |
€144,538.00 |
|
TOTAL |
€351,382.00 |
One-off (2019) Capital Funding (Wicklow and Kildare*)
|
Service |
Amount |
|
Staff-led Capital Funding |
€40,000.00 |
|
Local Youth Club Equipment Scheme |
€56,386.97 |
|
TOTAL |
€96,386.97 |
* These are figures for funds allocated to KWETB as a whole.
As the Deputy may be aware my Department is currently managing the most significant reform of youth services ever undertaken. Part of this reform involves the restructuring of four funding schemes into one funding scheme – the Targeted Youth Funding Scheme.
The Targeted Youth Funding Scheme has been allocated €35.18 million for 2019 to provide out of school Young people aged 10 to 24 years of age who are described in the National Youth Strategy as marginalised, disadvantaged or vulnerable will be the primary target group for services available through the new scheme.
Key to the reform is the new approach to identify need and to focus funding on young people most in need of intervention. Future development and investment in youth services will be informed by the mapping exercise completed in 2017, which mapped youth service provision across the State, as well as an Area Profiling, Needs Assessment and Service Requirement tool which was designed in collaboration with the Education and Training Board (ETB) sector and was officially launched in January 2019. This mapping and tool will assist the Department and the relevant ETBs in developing a detailed social demographic profile in terms of both population numbers and deprivation levels.
My Department is committed to working with ETBs to identify requirements in their area and facilitate decisions on service requirement by reference to evidenced need.