Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 March 2024
479. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Justice to detail the total amount of funding allocated per year for Youth Justice, for the years from 2010 to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10184/24]
View answerEvery young person deserves the opportunity to improve their quality of life and our commitment to expanding Youth Justice services, and increasing funding to these services, similarly reflects our commitment to these young people. This commitment is a central point of our Youth Justice Strategy, launched in 2021, which provides a developmental framework to address key challenges and emerging issues in the youth justice area.
A top priority is the expansion and deepening of the services offered to young people by the Youth Diversion Projects (YDPs), which are fully funded by the Department of Justice. YDPs are community based, multi-agency youth crime prevention initiatives which primarily seek to divert young people who have been, or are at risk of becoming, involved in anti-social and/or criminal behaviour. On average the YDPs engage with between 3,500 and 4,000 young people across the State in any one year. These projects provide an invaluable support to complement the work of An Garda Síochána in addressing youth crime and protecting local communities.
To help achieve this, funding for Youth Diversion Projects (YDPs) and other Youth Justice measures has increased substantially in recent years. In Budget 2024, the funding allocated to overall Youth Justice Services increased by 10% to €33 million. This will facilitate an increase in the availability of YDP services in the evenings and at the weekends when many young people need them the most, as well as an increase in supports for families, interventions for typically hard-to-reach young people and early interventions for 8-11 year olds who may be at increased risk of becoming engaged in criminal activity.
This increase in funding will also allow us to achieve our goal of full nationwide coverage for YDPs for the first time. I can inform the Deputy that this funding will be deployed with the assistance of the best available research and expert evidence to keep young people away from crime.
We know from international research that a number of factors place young adults in this age group at a higher risk of becoming involved in criminal behaviour. It is important to reach out to this age group and ensure they recognise they will not be abandoned and left to fend for themselves when they become young adults.
All of this work in the area of Youth Justice is central to this Government’s commitment to building stronger, safer communities. The Government’s commitment to helping the young people who need it has been reflected in our allocations of funding and resources to expand this network.
The tables attached sets out the breakdown of funding for the years requested by the Deputy.
|
Expenditure by Year |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
|
Youth Justice Funding |
€40,396,543.35 |
€32,450,853.27 |
€17,162,187.36 |
€15,313,294.21 |
€16,108,230.25 |
€16,055,115.45 |
€20,105,194.89 |
|
Expenditure by Year |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
Estimate 2024 |
Total |
|
Youth Justice Funding |
€15,735,924.09 |
€16,047,901.01 |
€16,850,973.19 |
€19,072,283.35 |
€22,030,888.14 |
€29,011,654.92 |
€30,619,256.07 |
€33,000,000.00 |
€339,960,299.55 |
|
* Expenditure from 2010 - 2020 includes IYJS staff costs |
** Expenditure from 2010 - 2011 includes Centres for Young Offenders staff and related costs
