In the programme for Government, it states on page 82 that the new Government will fund the expansion of youth services and support early school leavers to find employment. In a recent reply to a parliamentary question, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, said there are 1,400 youth workers in Ireland. However, there are only five youth workers in Cork South-West - in the whole of this large constituency. Towns like Bantry, Clonakilty, Dunmanway and Skibbereen do not have a single youth worker or any youth service of any description. That is a huge loss to the youth of those towns at a time when we are living with the scourge of drugs and social isolation. There is an urgent need for the establishment of a Carbery youth service to serve the ever-growing youth population of west Cork. Will the Government support the setting up of such a youth service in west Cork?

I will ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, to reply to the Deputy directly.