SIX projects that provide vital services for north inner city youths have issued a warning to the Government about the impact of cuts to funding.
Approximately 150 people, including local public representatives, attended the meeting in St Agatha’s Hall, Dublin 1, last Wednesday week (June 26).
Representatives of SWAN Youth Service, Adventure Sports Project, Ballybough Youth Service, Bradog Regional Youth Service, Lourdes Youth and Community Services and the Wexford Centre Project met to discuss the crisis during a public forum.
The meeting gave each of the organisations an opportunity to showcase what they do and highlight the detrimental impact of proposed further Government cuts to budgets.
Ashling Golden, a youth justice worker at SWAN Youth Service, said some projects have already lost over 30 per cent of their budgets, are running with no programme budget and have lost workers too.
“Yet demand for youth services has never been higher,
? Ms Golden told Northside People.
“We have about 200 young people, aged 10 to 21, using our services and the list is growing. We can’t cope with the demand. More and more young people are coming to us.
“The cuts are affecting us really badly and are having a massive impact on the services we provide.
“The idea behind the meeting was to let the TDs, councillors and the Government know that serious damage is being done. These children are the future of the country. We’re saying: enough is enough.
“At the meeting we asked the TDs would they vote for a budget (2014) that includes a further cut of e3 million in the youth services budget.
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Ms Golden said the services they provide in the community are vital.
“In some cases we are the only people that the youths can turn to,
? she stated.
“They might not have any support structures outside of what we provide.
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SWAN Youth Service, which caters for youths in the North Wall and North Strand areas, provides a number of programmes such as mental health awareness, sexual health, self-esteem, anti-bullying initiatives, drug awareness, unemployment and education support work.
“We build programmes around the youths’ specific needs,
? said Ms Golden.
“Our own centre has been cut by 35 per cent over the last three years and like the other youth projects we just can’t take any more.
“We’re saying that from an economic point of view, it is better to invest in youth services now.
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The National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) commissioned Indecon to carry out a study on the economic value of youth work. It found that for every euro spent now, two euro and 22 cent would be saved in the long-term.
Ms Golden has called on the Government to be proactive rather than reactive.
“Minister for the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald, keeps saying that her department hasn’t got the money so we asked the TDs on the night to arrange a meeting with Minister for Finance Michael Noonan,
? she added.
“He’s the minister who controls the purse strings so we want a meeting with him.
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A spokeswoman for the Department of Children and Youth Affairs said funding of some e53.173 million is available in 2013 to support the provision of youth services and programmes throughout the country, including those from disadvantaged communities.
“The 2012-2014 savings for all departments were agreed by the Government in December 2011,
? she told Northside People.
“The Department of Children and Youth Affairs Comprehensive Review of Expenditure (CRE) set out the savings that would be required in each year from the staff-led youth schemes, including savings in 2013 of 10 per cent.
“The savings required for 2014 by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs in the funding provided for youth services amounts to
?¬2.97 million.
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The Department said it has tried to ensure that frontline youth services, particularly those for the most vulnerable young people, are protected as far as is possible from the impact of any necessary reductions in funding.
It pointed out that it has afforded flexibility to the bodies administering the funding on its behalf to make proposals/recommendations, to reconfigure the allocations based on the local knowledge and expertise of these organisations.
The spokeswoman said the Department was fully cognisant of the value of youth work and the benefits accruing to young people.
“The Department is committed to the development of a new youth policy framework which is currently being progressed,
? she added.
“This will ensure that the funding available in future years will be used as effectively as possible.
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