Thomas Pringle
Ceist:442. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if funding is available for groups (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48975/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 26 November 2019
Ceisteanna (442)
Freagraí scríofa
The service that the Deputy refers to appears to be an in-school health promotion initiative around drugs and alcohol. Accordingly I would advise the Deputy that he might refer the question to the Minister of State at the Department of Health with responsibility for Health Promotion and the National Drugs Strategy for her consideration.
By way of background to work that my Department undertakes in this area, the Deputy may be aware of the significant work being done to reform the funding and provision of youth services. Part of this reform involves the restructuring of four existing funding schemes into one funding scheme – the Targeted Youth Funding Scheme. One of the previous four funding schemes was for projects under the Local Drug Task Force.
21 youth related Local Drugs Task Force projects target young people under the various pillars of the National Drugs Strategy “Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery”. The funding is given to youth projects to provide a range of supports for young people by way of targeted drug prevention and awareness programmes as well as referrals.
The Targeted Youth Funding Scheme has been allocated €35.18 million for 2019 to provide out-of-school supports to young people aged 10 to 24 years of age who are described in the National Youth Strategy as marginalised, disadvantaged or vulnerable will be the primary target group for services available through the new scheme.