Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire
Ceist:254. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her plans to allocate additional resources to Cork city and county, specifically LGBT youth supports. [20419/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 9 May 2018
Ceisteanna (254)
Freagraí scríofa
I am pleased to confirm that an extra €1.5m has been allocated in current funding to support the provision of youth services in 2018. This will bring the total current youth funding available to my Department to €58.9m. The additional funding is being used for programmes that target disadvantaged young people. Funding to staff-led youth services has generally been targeted at areas of disadvantage and not in proportion to the youth population of a county.
As the Deputy may be aware my Department is managing the most significant reform of youth services ever undertaken. This will provide an opportunity to identify need and to focus funding on young people most in need of intervention.
Last year each of the sixteen Education and Training Boards, including Cork ETB, was invited to nominate locations within their catchment areas for the establishment of new services and to nominate a project or service to be considered for augmentation. In total twenty-eight applications for new services were received. Subsequently I approved the establishment of nine new targeted youth services across the country and the expansion of a further seven to respond to new demand and needs of young people which included new services in Mitchelstown and Carrigaline and an augmented service in Middleton.
Future development and investment in youth services will be informed by the mapping exercise completed last year which mapped youth service provision across the State. This mapping will assist the Department and the relevant ETB in developing a detailed social demographic profile in terms of both population numbers and deprivation levels. My Department is committed to working with Cork ETB to identify need and explore ways to address this need where it emerges.
The Programme for Government (2016) gives a commitment to develop a Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Youth Strategy. This is a key commitment for my Department in the Programme for Government and also makes a contribution towards the Government’s broader commitment to continue to strive for full inclusion of LGBT people in Ireland. The development of this Strategy will be led by my Department. The final Strategy is scheduled for publication in the end of Quarter 2 2018.