The National Youth Council of Ireland is pleased to be afforded the opportunity by the Joint Committee on Education and Science to discuss the impact of the Youth Work Act 2001 on the effectiveness of youth work programmes and services.
The National Youth Council of Ireland was founded in 1967 and is the representative body for voluntary youth organisations and, as my colleagues have outlined, is recognised as such in the Youth Work Act. The council is also recognised by Government as a social partner. We currently represent almost 50 national youth organisations, including large youth work providers, uniformed organisations, Irish language organisations and the youth wings of most of the political parties, together with organisations that work with particular groups, such as marginalised young people.
There are 1.5 million people in Ireland under the age of 25, comprising 41% of the population, as indicated by the census in 1996. This is the largest proportion of the population of a country within Europe, and is far higher than the EU average of 25%. The National Youth Council of Ireland has campaigned for youth work legislation since the 1970s and we worked with Government and our colleagues in the statutory sector to shape the current Youth Work Act.
The idea for a national youth work development plan originated within the council. We identified the significant gap in strategic planning for youth work and urged the filling of this gap through our role in the National Youth Work Advisory Committee. Work on developing that plan for youth work in Ireland began in 1999 and the NYCI and its member organisations played a full role in that process.
The draft development plan, which was completed in 2001, is supported by research and extensive consultation and is recognised by all stakeholders as the appropriate way forward for youth work. The introduction of the Youth Work Act 2001 and the preparation of the draft development plan heralded a climate of optimism, confidence and self-belief among youth organisations. This was in contrast to an earlier suspicion that youth work was the Cinderella of the education system.
The NYWAC has responsibility to produce some guidance for the implementation of the Youth Work Act. The NYCI has played a full role within the NYWAC, in partnership with the Youth First section of the Department of Education and Science and the vocational education committees, in developing the details of the implementation of the Act, including the guidelines on designation of local voluntary youth organisations, the establishment of local voluntary youth councils and the approval of national voluntary youth work organisations. We have also lobbied consistently for adequate funding to support both the implementation of the Act and the draft development plan. On behalf of the NYCI, I acknowledge the commitment and dedication of the current Minister with responsibility for youth affairs who is striving to move this agenda forward.
Despite all these efforts, we arrive at the situation today where the answer to the question as to how the Youth Work Act 2001 has impacted on the effectiveness of youth work programmes and services is that it has not, except perhaps in a negative sense. All of the time and effort invested in these processes by the major players in youth work may have been potentially detrimental. These processes have been major diversions that have drawn energy away from organisations.
There is, as the chairman of the NYWAC has said, a growing sense of disillusion, frustration and anxiety within the NYCI and our member organisations. We fear that the Youth Work Act 2001 has heralded yet another false dawn for youth work. The reasons for that are clear. We anticipated additional funding to develop youth work at local level. Instead, youth affairs has received a 1% increase for 2003. With inflation this represents a decrease in current levels of funding of approximately 4%. Without the allocation of additional funding, there will be cuts in existing levels of services to over 500,000 young people involved in youth organisations and thousands of disadvantaged young people involved in targeted initiatives supported by 40,000 voluntary youth leaders and over 1,000 youth workers.
The Youth Work Act 2001 provides for the establishment of new mechanisms for the co-ordination and support of youth work at county and national levels. The core of the Act provides for the establishment of partnership structures at local level between the vocational education committees and youth organisations to support the development of youth work. Without adequate resources, these structures will be simply cosmetic.
The Act must be supported by the allocation of additional funding to ensure consistent implementation across the country. The NYCI would also urge that the implementation timetable allow for the full inclusion of all the key stakeholders in youth work. This would ensure that the true partnership approach provided for in the Act becomes a reality.
The national youth work development plan sets out a framework for the development of youth work over a five year period from 2003-07. It is anticipated that the plan will be published as soon as possible but, again, there is no additional funding for its implementation. The national youth work development plan must be adequately resourced. We recognise that current Government policy is to restrict public expenditure. Small amounts of additional funding, however, could begin the implementation process. It is estimated that the review of funding within the sector would cost about €65,000. The establishment of the development unit, which is a central tenet of the plan, will cost approximately €125,000 in year one. Of the almost 50 actions outlined in the plan, 29 have little or no additional cost implications.
In relation to the post of the assessor, the NYCI concurs with the views expressed by my colleague on behalf of the IVEA with regard to the grading and the independence of the post. This post, the establishment of which is provided for in the legislation, will be key in enhancing professionalism and ensuring quality standards in youth work. We believe it would be totally unreasonable and destructive for allocations or support currently provided to be reallocated or diverted to implement the Act or the plan. Implementation must not be at the cost of existing levels of services to young people.
The Youth Work Act 2001 and the National Youth Work Development Plan represent a unique achievement. Endless time, effort and dedication by so many young people, volunteers and paid staff in the youth work sector, by representatives of Government Departments, by academics and by the IVEA have outlined a way forward that can provide for a fully co-ordinated, integrated, effective and value-for-money service to young people in modern Ireland. On behalf of the hundreds of thousands of young people involved in youth work in every part of the country and the thousands of voluntary leaders and hundreds of paid youth workers who work in partnership with them, the National Youth Council of Ireland demands that additional resources and supports are made available to ensure the implementation of the plan and the Act.
