Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 June 2019
689. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the estimated full-year cost if the budget for the youth sector increased by 4.5%; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26602/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department administers a range of funding schemes and programmes to support the provision of youth services to young people throughout the country including those from disadvantaged communities. The funding schemes support national and local youth work involving approximately 1,400 youth work staff working in youth services and communities throughout the country.
The current allocated funding for the youth sector in 2019 is €60.395m; this represents a 2.5% increase on the 2018 allocation. An increase of 4.5% in the budget for the youth sector would result in an overall allocation of €63.113m; this would be a €2.7m difference from the current allocation.
As the Deputy is aware my Department is currently 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.
Future development and investment in youth services will be informed by the mapping exercise completed in 2017, which mapped youth service provision across the State as well as an Area Profiling, Needs Assessment and Service Requirement tool which was designed in collaboration with the Education and Training Board (ETB) sector and was officially launched in January 2019. This mapping and tool will assist the Department and the relevant ETBs in developing a detailed social demographic profile in terms of both population numbers and deprivation levels. My Department is committed to working with ETBs to identify requirements in their area and facilitate decisions on service requirement by reference to evidenced need.
