Laois has received a paltry amount of funding for youth services in the county, according to Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley.
He is asking the Minister for Children & Youth Affairs, Katherine Zappone, to provide additional funding to Laois Youth Services.
“Laois Youth Services received one of the lowest allocations of funding in the entire Country in 2017.
“In reply to my recent Dáil Question the Minister informed me that a total of €57.4 million was provided to support the provision of youth services this year and out of this Laois received just €86,803 under the Special Projects for Youth Scheme.
Paltry
“This represents a paltry 0.15% of total funds allocated and once again Laois has been treated shabbily,” he said.
Separate to this, he said, all 16 Educational and Training Boards (ETB) including Laois and Offaly ETB were invited to nominate locations within their catchment areas for the establishment of new services or to augment an existing service.
An additional €800,000 was approved for this fund and 28 applications were received.
Out of these the Minister approved the establishment of 9 new targeted youth services and the expansion of a further 7, yet once again Laois was unsuccessful, he said.
Growing
“Laois has a rapidly growing youth population with 24.6% under the age of 14, the highest in the state.
“The County also had the fastest population growth in the country of 26.3% between 2006 and 2016.
“Youth Work Ireland Laois launched their Strategic Plan 2017-2019 just two weeks ago.
“If they are to be in a position to implement this plan and provide essential services to the young people of Laois, then the Government needs to step up to the mark and provide Laois with its fair share of funding for youth services,” Deputy Stanley said.
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