I move:
That Dáil Éireann calls on the Government either to immediately publish its own comprehensive Youth Policy or to adopt the Policy for Youth and Sport published by the then Government in May 1977, and to ensure that aid to voluntary youth organisations is such that their programmes can be maintained and expanded.
I do not want this construed as a personal attack on the Minister for whom I have the highest regard, but I have my reasons for putting down this motion at this time. It arises from the growing discontent, frustration and disenchantment of many interested people, many interested voluntary organisations, throughout the country in regard to what they see as the lack of progressive thought, effective motivation and real leadership by the Department concerned with youth affairs and sport.
This country with a unique demographic structure within Europe, coupled with various other circumstances, has approximately 48 per cent of its population under 25 years of age, as the Minister knows. This figure will continue to rise until well into the 1980s thereby guaranteeing to cause increasing social difficulties at a later date if present attitudes and approaches are maintained. Necessary work in the youth area is being seriously handicapped by the lack of a clear Government statement of intent in relation to that area.
The basis of my argument is both political and social, the emphasis being on the latter. Youth needs a challenge for its fullest expression in any walk of life. Youth is now willing to accept the immense challenge of participating in the formation of a newer and better society for us all, but it needs a certain assistance from Government level, not the least of which is a comprehensive youth policy. I believe, regardless of an increasingly materialistic consumer society, that in Ireland we still have the ability and the capacity to find for ourselves one of the best standards of living and life of the highest quality in the best sense of that word.
This potential can be greatly assisted by harnessing the undoubted talents and abilities, the energies and idealism of youth into a path of progress that will be beneficial to the whole community. There is in a vast majority of our young people an inherent driving force for good which if allowed to go uptapped is a serious reflection of an inadequacy in our social and political system at the moment. This could cause social problems of an unknown magnitude inside a few years.
It is a little beyond comprehension that a Government who when in Opposition wooed the youth of the country, a Government which were returned to office with a massive majority, capable of introducing any legislation they so desire, which appointed a Minister of State with direct responsibility for youth affairs, have yet failed to introduce a youth policy and have equally failed to be realistic in their attitude and their consequent actions towards voluntary organisations and the aid granted to them.
I concede, from a political point of view, that of the number of young people who voted in the last election in June 1977, a majority voted for the present Government basically because of the commitments given to them, which they believed were given to them in all good faith prior to that time. There were the obvious signs of a vibrant age in tee-shirts and records. They had solid and definite commitments given in writing to assist the area of youth and sport. There was a commitment to create 5,000 jobs for young people, which has since not materialised and on which I will speak later. They were to create opportunities.
The Employment Action Team, whose initials in reverse spell trial and error, seemingly have had a lot of trial and error. No concrete jobs have evolved from that team. There have been many opportunities but, all in all, there has been pathetic failure to date. I note that the Minister is now reviewing the activities of the Employment Action Team. A review of what they have done to date is inconsequential. There was a commitment of £20 million to youth and sport, which evaporated to approximately £5 million after the budget. It is not realistic to suggest that that has been absorbed into the other job creation areas, such as health, housing and social welfare in which we understand there are to be cuts in the near future. There was also the commitment to the production of a national youth policy, which has not materialised either.
When the Coalition Government took office in 1973 they realised that the aim of youth work should be the provision of facilities and activities to enable young people to develop and to appreciate the advantages of an ordered society and to contribute to that society. A Parliamentary Secretary was appointed who set up an advisory panel, consisting of educationalists, sociologists, administrators and experts to assist in drawing up a comprehensive policy document for this area. That was complicated work because it had to be flexible and had to take into account the ever-changing needs of young people.
Eventually a document was produced on 14 May 1977, strategically before the general election. The present administration, then in Opposition, and I justly criticised the Coalition Government for their failure to introduce and implement a policy for youth prior to the date of the introduction of that document. One must remember that in any Department up to that time there was very scant information, very few details and very little relevant documents in the area of youth. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education at that time, Deputy Bruton, had to do most of the work himself and to assist his backup team in whatever way he could before the document was produced. It can be said he was the first person in the country to give youth the priority it deserves at national level.
The attitude of this Government in the eyes of many of the youth organisations throughout the country appears to be devious and uninformative and totally in line with the view that many young people have of politics and politicians. I have always maintained that it is fair game to criticise when in Opposition but I honestly believe that the primary work of any Minister or Minister of State is concerned with drafting the necessary legislation that will give the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people concerned with his Department. I find it rather childish that many Ministers in the House continuously harp back to what was done in days of yore by Governments in comparing what Coalition Governments did with what Fianna Fáil Governments did. I believe if Ministers take the necessary action there would be no criticism except valid criticism.
The policy for youth and sport, as published at that time—which incidentally is no longer in print— received a general welcome from youth clubs throughout the country as being the basis on which to build and make progress. It was recognised that at least it was a start. The official Fianna Fáil attitude at the time was that it was too little too late.
Reviewing what that document entailed one could say it was a comprehensive statement of Government policy about the connection of the inter-related areas of youth and sport. The document realised that money, of itself, would not solve all our social problems. It emphasised the need to preserve and strengthen the volunteer concept which can play a significant role in the development of our community and in strengthening our social fabric.
It appeared to the body set up that five areas warranted further consideration if the potential of young people was to be fully realised. These were education, recreation, counselling, opportunities for voluntary services and community development. It recognised that education in itself is not the sole prerogative of schools in formal settings, that many people can learn far more in an informal setting in which they can follow their interests and desires to the best of their ability. Furthermore, it recognised that education in all senses, leads one to develop personally, to broaden one's mind, that it enables one to avail of new sources of information, follow new avenues of thought and develop one's characters in a better way. It contended also that informal education out of schools has not got a captive audience and can die out unless it is both stimulating and interesting. That is the essence of the informal educational sphere, that it must be both stimulating and interesting. Otherwise its audience tends to fade away.
In the area of recreation one only has to look around one to see the thousands upon thousands of young children and young men and women to ask oneself. What do they do? What are they going to do in the days, months and years ahead? Are we to turn this country into a nation of television addicts? Are we to develop the lounge bar society—with due respect to Deputy Flynn—and are we to leave our children hanging around corners awaiting school buses in the morning and in the evening on which occasions their energies can often turn to actions which one might say are not normal? Recreation leads to the formation of youth clubs in many areas. It is an interesting thought that throughout the country there are people who give of their time, energy, effort and finance, in a voluntary capacity, to train, educate and lead young people to develop personally, contributing in a better way to the society we all hope we can have. That is a very valuable source that should not be wasted. The recreation area is one that will become of increasing importance in the years ahead. A man 40 years ago worked 100 hours per week, today he works 40; in 15 years' time he may not be working at all or may work only 20 hours. Therefore, the problem of leisure and free time will become of increasing importance. It will be seen that the area of recreation is one that warrants constant monitoring and will be of extreme importance in the years ahead.
The third area designated as being of importance was that of conselling where it was felt that in many informal settings within youth organisations throughout the country young people will be more willing and ready to inform qualified people of their problems. It was felt that people in charge of younger people should have professional training and advice to enable them to cope properly with any young people's problems that might arise within those organisations.
The fourth area designated as being important was that of affording opportunity for voluntary services to young people. That is a point many people miss—that youth work is not concerned solely with the provision of facilities, such as table tennis or games; it is a service that can be given by young people to young people. Indeed, it can be given not solely to young people but to the elderly within our society. There are geriatrics in hospitals who need people. Developing urban areas can often be spawning grounds for delinquency where the problem of loneliness is rife. Indeed it stretches to desolate rural areas where there is a loneliness of a different type. These people all need people. Voluntary service given by young people in this area can be developed and helped by professional people within youth organisations.
The fifth area, leading on from there, was the development of the community which is of extreme importance today because it is difficult for young people to realise the kind of world in which they are growing up, or what lies ahead of them. Voluntary organisations are a way of ensuring that young people retain their values and their respect for people and property, still developing their characters in line with what we would all wish. There has been a tremendous change in Irish society and attitudes in the last decade. No doubt the next decade will see equally important changes. Ranging from rural areas to urban ones it will be observed that people often lose sight of their traditional values. The organisation of youth branches catering for young people within these areas is of tremendous value and will become of increasing importance in the years ahead.
The major proposals within that document, as published, were that additional funds would be provided by the Department of Education to vocational education committees for assistance to youth and sport; they would be given money to spend, with considerable autonomy, within the bounds of policy on the specific needs of their localities in the youth and sport area and that they would have a formal co-ordinating role for all youth and sport services at local level. Provision was made for an experimental measure for what was called "Community animateurs”, which is a French derivation of a word. The idea behind it was that a professional person would move into an area where there was a lack of motivation, set up the necessary organisations and move on. In fact there is a need for a full-time professional youth officer in each area. Further, there was an in-service training scheme to be set up for full-time youth workers to be reviewed and reassessed after five years. There was also to be set up a sports council, with a chief executive, one of its principal rules being to promote the ideal of sport for all. It was recommended that that sports council would also operate a sports bureau, library and information service. There was to be an annual review of the existing grant aid schemes that would be instituted with the voluntary organisations and sports council, and that the vocational education committees were to implement policy decisions regarding youth and sport. There were major proposals in that document and we find one year later that very little has, in fact, been done in that area.
People have a right to be anxious about the position. The original document had its faults and failings but it at least created an opportunity for making progress, an opportunity that could have been grasped and a progress that could have been built on. Unfortunately the opportunity was not grasped and many voluntary organisations now do not know where they stand with the Minister. They do not know where the Department stands. They would like the Minister's thoughts and the Department's intentions clearly outlined in a document which would act as a supportive framework for their own constitutions. If such a framework were built and certain clearcut ideas were outlined, that in itself would be progress. If subsequently it was found in some way faulty or defective those faults and defects could be remedied in a relatively short time.
What do we find? We find more committees being set up, more information being sought, more questions being asked. The information gathered will be dealt with by the Department by the end of August, a time when many civil servants may be on holiday. Voluntary organisations are being asked to submit information about their activities and their intentions. There is no definite response from the Department. Organisations were already asked for all this information and no doubt the Department shelves are crammed with files in regard to every aspect of this whole matter in relation to youth work, files the Minister should be able to use and which his back-up team should be able to avail of to their advantage. Further information will be of little value at this stage as most of the information has already been produced. This kind of thing only results in further delay, disenchantment and discontent. It gives people the impression that the Minister is somehow afraid of introducing a policy based on the work of the previous administration. He should not be afraid. There were faults and failings and the Minister could now, to his own credit, correct these.
In relation to the now infamous document that Fianna Fáil produced to the nation shortly before the election, a document beginning now to wallow in a cesspool of broken promises, it was stated in the first line on page 31:
A national youth policy must be aimed at the total development of all our youth. The policy must recognise the different needs of young people today, from social survival to the fuller development of their talents.
It went on to give a list of the proposals that were to be introduced. If one cannot introduce the first line it is difficult to follow up with proposals.
Deputy Briscoe, who was and is still very interested in the area of youth on a "Here and Now" programme in January 1974, said that £3 million would be committed to the youth area in the first year of the Fianna Fáil administration.
