My Department has a range of services in place for young people. Funding of some €56.626m is available from my Department in 2012 to support the provision of youth services and programmes to young people throughout the country through a number of schemes. These schemes include the Youth Service Grant Scheme, the Special Projects for Youth Scheme, the Young People’s Facilities and Services Fund and certain other provisions including the Local Youth Club Grant Scheme, Youth Information Centres, the European Youth in Action Programme (administered by Léargas – the Exchange Bureau) and Gaisce – the President’s Award.
The main objective of my Department, in the provision of support for youth services, is to develop and implement coherent, coordinated and relevant youth policies to support the youth sector in providing effective non-formal education and developmental opportunities for young people through which they can enhance and develop their personal and social skills and competencies. Quality youth services can enhance young people’s social and personal development and their physical, emotional and mental wellbeing. The opportunities youth services provide also equip young people with applicable and transferable skills and experiences which can prove highly-valuable for young people and can help them address the various challenges, including socio and economic challenges that they may face in life.
My Department is developing a new Youth Policy Framework for publication in 2013. The new Youth Policy Framework will seek to ensure that youth work structures, services and supports are optimised to help young people acquire the skills and competences they need, achieve their goals and assist them in accessing education, training, employment and entrepreneurial opportunities. Expert opinion, the views of young people themselves and of those who work with them are highly important to the way the framework is being developed. I have set up an expert reference group, comprising youth practitioners, managers of young people's services, youth leaders, academics, researchers and other experts and they are actively contributing their knowledge and experience to my Department’s work. The outcomes from a symposium on Exploring Outcomes in Youth Work which I hosted in July are also feeding into the Youth Policy Framework. Youth policy developments at European level during Ireland’s Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers in 2013, along with the experience of youth service providers, experts and young people themselves and the findings from a review of the international evidence on outcomes in youth work carried out by the Institute of Education, London on behalf of the Department, will also inform Ireland’s national policy for young people.
Furthermore, I am in the process of appointing a new National Youth Work Advisory Committee (NYWAC) under the terms of the Youth Work Act, 2001. This Advisory Committee which comprises equal representation from the voluntary youth work sector and Government departments and statutory agencies will contribute to the development of the Youth Policy Framework. These experts will advise and assist me in the development of a coherent and responsive youth policy which will direct and support the provision of relevant services and programmes that will meet the needs of young people in the years ahead.
