Conor D McGuinness: Youth Work Failing - Fund It Now

Margaret, Cathaoirleach, Néamhig, Minister, frontline youth workers are being asked to carry more and more of a burden with less and less. They're dealing every day with real pressures facing young people, mental health challenges, online harm and misinformation, social isolation, and increasingly visible antisocial behaviour. In Waterford, we're seeing that play out in very real terms. The lighting of fires in parks of Waterford City and in Dungarvan, most recently in Gallows Hill in the town, and the growing misuse of nitrous oxide, an issue that has been consistently flagged by my colleague Councillor Kato Mahony and indeed by Deputy Mark Ward here who has moved legislation. But these are symptoms of deep failure by a government that frankly no longer gives a crap. Youth work is one of the most effective tools we have to intervene early, to build trust, to empower young people and to equip them with the skills and confidence to navigate the world that they're growing up in. But it's being undermined by government failure. Recruitment and retention is now a serious problem. Skilled, committed youth workers are leaving because paying conditions do not reflect the value or demands of the role, and that's not sustainable. Services are also struggling under chronic underfunding. Rising costs, increased demand and no certainty in funding streams are making long-term planning almost impossible. And there is a clear deficit in infrastructure. Too many communities do not have proper youth spaces, and that has been allowed to persist for years. Youth Work Ireland have set this out clearly, and myself and many other deputies met with them last week. Proper funding, fair pay through a statutory scale and a capital programme for facilities. The Minister, you'll no doubt point to strategy in your response, but strategy without delivery, without funding, does not support a single young person. What we need now is investment, certainty and a recognition that youth work is not optional. In fact, in many of the communities, in the communities that I represent and many in this House represent, it is utterly essential. Thank you, and I'd like to thank the deputies for raising this issue. Supporting youth work is a critical aspect of what we do as a government to support our young people, and I'd like to thank both deputies for the opportunity to set out the position with regard to youth work provision and funding provided to Youth Work Ireland from my department. Youth Work services deliver high-quality youth work and non-formal developmental opportunities to young people aged between 10 and 24 across Ireland every year. Approximately 450,000 young people participate in Youth Work services annually. Since 2020, government investment in youth services has risen from €62.3 million to €90.1 million in 2026, and under the National Development Plan, €4 million in capital funding will be allocated annually to youth services from 2026 to 2030, providing multi-year certainty for the first time. This allows better long-term planning, investment and value for money. Youth Work Ireland is a key organisation in the sector. It provides youth work to tens of thousands of young people across the country. Its importance is reflected in the support provided by the Department of Education and Youth via multiple funding streams. Over €2.8 million has been allocated to Youth Work Ireland under the Youth Services Grant Scheme in 2026. That represents a 28% increase since 2020. Youth Work Ireland has also received funding for specific projects under the Youth Climate Justice Fund, the Volunteer Activation Fund and Youth Services Capital Fund. Youth Work Ireland and its members' services play a key role in the delivery of targeted youth work interventions. Over €12 million has been allocated to Youth Work Ireland member organisations to deliver targeted youth work in 2026 under the UBU, Your Place, Your Space Scheme. With this funding, the Department of Education and Youth continues to support existing youth services and youth organisations, including Youth Work Ireland, while also enabling the expansion of both targeted and universal services for young people. Youth workers, volunteers and their volunteers are essential to the delivery of quality youth services. The Department is also progressing a workforce development strategy in recognition of the need to support the workforce and the youth sector and ensure that they can continue to provide high-quality, accessible and inclusive youth work opportunities for young people. I would like to sincerely thank youth workers, employers and their employers for the high level of participation in the workforce survey process which took place. The analysis and the responses are extremely useful in informing the strategy's development. Consultations are scheduled to take place in multiple locations around the country during May and June to engage further with youth workers and employers to build on the data available through the Youth Workers and Employers Survey. Just this week, my officials presented some top-level findings from the surveys at the Inspiring Future Youth Workers seminar that was organised by the National Youth Council of Ireland and funded by my department under the BON process. Thank you. Minister, the difficulty, and I note your response and thank you for it, but the difficulty is not the absence of strategy, it's the absence of delivery. And we see the work of the workforce survey, the workforce development strategy that's taking place at the moment. It's another case of too little, too late. The issues here in terms of recruitment and retention are not new. In many cases they've always been thus, but they've been accelerated and worsened since the economic crash in 2008, 2009 and the austerity years. And youth services have never fully recovered from all the cuts that were imposed by successively in the fall of Fine Gael-led governments since then. What we really need to see now is parity between the remuneration offered to youth workers working in the community, in voluntary organisations, with employees doing similar work in many cases with similar qualifications and similar demands on their time that are working in the public sector. And that is a way that we can maybe keep people in those jobs where they're at the coalface and they're doing that frontline work that is so valuable in all our communities. Thank you. And thank you, deputies, for raising those issues. Just to say, in relation to youth workers, and they're employed directly by individual youth organisations, as you know, so they're not public servants, so the terms and their conditions, including pay, are set by the individual youth organisations. My department provides grant funding for the provision of youth services to those youth organisations to meet the needs of young people. It doesn't directly employ youth workers or set the terms and conditions of employment. My department is aware, for example, that pension provisions across the sector are inconsistent. Some youth organisations have established pension schemes, for example, in place, whereas others have not. The additional current funding that is being provided as part of Budget 2026 will help youth organisations manage these pressures, including the costs arising, for example, from pension obligations. The core current funding of £90.1 million will be available in 2026, and that represents a 5% increase. It's a £4.5 million increase on the 2025 allocation. And just to say, in relation to that survey, that will be analysed. I know my department, as I say, is progressing that workforce development strategy in recognition of the important work that the workforce does within the youth sector. There's also a fund there around volunteerism, for example, the Activation Fund, which has commenced this €20 million funding allocated to youth services, as well as part of the National Development Plan. That's for capital funding. I know one of the deputies raised that earlier. Other departments, as well, are working with my department in the area of capital projects, for example, the Department of Children, local authorities as well, the ETBs. And just in relation to that workforce survey, that will be really important as well to inform our work, and those consultations will form a key part. But I just want to assure the deputies this is a key priority. We've increased the funding here for capital, for current, and I want to continue to do that, and working with the sector, listening to them. I know absolutely the importance of youth work across the country.