Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 May 2024
517. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the amount of funding his Department has provided for the child and youth participation network, by county, in tabular form. [22614/24]
View answerI understand the Deputy is referring to Children and Young People’s Services Committees (CYPSC).
CYPSC are funded by my Department either directly or via contributions from Tusla’s funding along with contributions from the Department of Health (Healthy Ireland) to ensure effective inter-agency co-ordination and collaboration in achieving the best outcomes for children and young people in their local area.
In Budget 2024, I secured a funding allocation of €2.929 million for CYPSC under subhead C05, an increase of €524,000 on the 2023 allocation of €2.405million. This provides:
• €1.080 million for CYPSC programme funding. This is an increase of €324,000 on funding provided in 2023 and increases 2024 funding for each of the 27 CYPSC from €28,000 to €40,000.
• €850,000 for CYPSC Healthy Ireland funding. This is an increase of €200,000 when compared to 2023 and matches the Department of Health’s funding for this initiative in 2024 bringing total funding to €1.7m This increases funding for each of the 27 CYPSC from €48,000 to approximately €60,000 in 2024
• €930,000 for the CYPSC National Coordinator Programme and CYPSC Co-Ordinator salaries
• €69,000 towards the CYPSC review to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of CYPSC and other identified need.
Furthermore, in 2024, I allocated
• €135,000 to CYPSC for a Parent Support Awareness Fund and this equates to €5,000 per each CYPSC
€1.4 million is allocated via the International Protection Support Service (IPSS) fund to provide focused support to children, young people and their families in the International Protection system. Each CYPSC and the National Coordinator’s office can apply for up to €50,000.
I also secured funding for in excess of €1.1bn for Tusla for 2024 and from this Tusla allocates some funds for CYPSC, while this is largely an operational matter for that agency, I have instructed Tusla to allocate €750,000 of this funding to support the recruitment of 27 CYPSC Grade V project support workers. This will support the valuable work of each existing CYPSC Coordinator.
In 2024, my Department is providing €400,000 to facilitate a pilot programme that will establish at least four Local Area Child Poverty Action Plans. These pilots will be part of Ireland’s National Action Plan under the EU Child Guarantee. The fund is open to joint applications from CYPSC and their corresponding Local Community Development Committee. An application process for funding commenced in April 2024 and will close 7 June 2024.
It is also important to note that each CYPSC may leverage other funding in its own local area.
Accordingly, I have also referred the Deputy’s question to Tusla for direct response with regard to detailed funding of each CYPSC in 2024.
