Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as ucht a bheith i Seanad Éireann inniu chun infheistíocht i seirbhísí don aos óg a phlé liom. I raise the urgent need for additional investment in youth services in Dublin's south-west inner city, SWIC. Securing greater investment for this area is one of my key priorities. Over recent months, I have engaged with local community organisations, residents, schools, sports clubs and other stakeholders about their vision for the future of the south-west inner city. One issue comes up time and again, which is the need for greater investment in youth work and recreational opportunities for young people.

There are many excellent youth work providers working in the SWIC, but today I will highlight what appears to a be a significant disparity in youth work funding, particularly in relation to the Solas Project and its Liberate youth work team. Before turning to the Solas Project specifically, it is important that we set out the context of all of this. Earlier this year, Dr. Barra Roantree published an independent socioeconomic analysis of the south-west inner city. The findings were stark. The crime rate is more than twice the national average. Third level progression rates are less than half the national average. The rate of single-parent families is twice the national average. Only two of Dublin City Council's 248 public pitches are located in the south-west inner city. Just 22% of primary school pupils and 8% of secondary school pupils meet the national physical activity guidelines. Most strikingly, half of those living in a deprived area of Dublin's inner city live in the south-west inner city, despite the area accounting for only a quarter of the inner city population. They are not just statistics; they reflect the daily reality facing many young people in the SWIC and demonstrate the need for a co-ordinated package of supports across youth services, education, sport, health and justice.

Against that backdrop, organisations such as the Solas Project play a vital role. The Liberate youth work team operates in a catchment area with a youth population of more than 4,100 people between the ages of ten and 24. According to the Pobal deprivation index, four of the eight most disadvantaged small areas in Dublin's inner city are located within that catchment area, yet Liberate is currently operating at around 30% above its funded capacity. It works directly with 115 young people, while a further 135 remain on a waiting list. Among those waiting are 16 young people at risk of early school-leaving, 25 at risk of involvement in crime, drug dealing and antisocial behaviour and six who are actively being groomed into criminal activity. Many fall into what Dublin city youth services define as target 4 group, that is, young people who are hardest to reach and most at risk of involvement in gang-related activity, crime and antisocial behaviour. These young people cannot afford to wait until they reach crisis point before supports become available. Early intervention is exactly what youth work is supposed to provide.

In 2024, the Solas Project worked with more than 250 young people. However, funding constraints have forced the organisation to reduce aspects of its service to maintain the quality of support it provides. As a result, a service operating in one of the most disadvantaged communities in the State cannot meet the demand that exists on its doorstep. What makes this particularly frustrating is that the need is so clearly evidenced.

I want to be clear - it is not about setting one youth work group against another. I would welcome clarification on the criteria used to allocate youth work funding and how disparities such as this can arise. I hope that next week's budget will deliver increased investment in youth services across the country, particularly for communities such as the south-west inner city. We have seen what happens when young people do not have somewhere to go to and do not have those supports locally. We need to positively discriminate against youth work services like the Solas Project and the Liberate team in the south-west inner city.

I thank Senator Ní Chuilinn for raising this issue. I am taking this matter because youth work falls under the Department of education. I am taking it on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton.

The Department is dedicated to enhancing the delivery of youth work services and opportunities for young people across the country. UBU Your Place Your Space is the largest youth service scheme funded by the Department. It targets young people between the ages of ten and 24 who are identified as marginalised, vulnerable and at risk of not flourishing. The Department has provided funding to 258 targeted youth services across the 16 ETB areas this year. The ETBs co-ordinate the delivery of the funding to the services in their local area. Over €54 million has been allocated to the UBU scheme in 2026. This year's allocation brings on an increase of over €10 million or 24% on the period between 2021 and 2025.

In relation to the Solas Project, the allocation has increased each year since the entry to the UBU scheme in 2021 and by over €40,000 over the last two years. This allocation is over €375,000. The Department and the ETBs work closely in relation to these youth projects. The Senator has identified a number of people who are in vulnerable positions. These are targeted measures to try to ensure that we are getting funding to people who are vulnerable and provide wraparound services to make sure that children and young people are moved away from antisocial behaviour or a life of crime. That is where they are targeted to. We are in ongoing discussions across Government and within our Department in relation to funding. It is not for me to comment on where that lands over the next four or five days but the points the Senator has raised with me are not lost on me. I have seen some fantastic work being done by youth services and ETBs, funded by the Department over the last while. Building on those successes, we have to make sure that we are increasing the funding and that we are making sure that there is funding available for the most vulnerable people.

The Senator raised one or two specific pieces in her opening remarks that I would appreciate getting sight of in order that I could follow up on and have a full understanding of it both from my side and the Minister, Deputy Naughton's side. My reply is on the record, but it is something that the Government and the Department are very conscious of, and we want to make sure that we are doing more in that space. Every cent invested in youth services and moving people away from antisocial behaviour and crime is a huge benefit to them, their families and the State in the long run.

I appreciate the sentiment coming from the Department. The Minister of State mentioned the UBU-funded projects. It is difficult to reconcile because there is some data there that suggests the Solas Project is among the lowest funded services relative to its size. Based on 2024 figures, 21 projects received a higher level of funding when measured against service size, with differences ranging from €2,000 to €23,000 per staff. The Minister of State mentioned data. We have data. The Pobal deprivation index that I mentioned earlier is telling us what is going on in that part of the city. Pobal is used over and over again to justify DEIS plus decisions, for example. I think the data is there and could be scrutinised a little more to look at what needs to happen in these parts of our cities.

A mother from the Oliver Bond flats told me that young people are actively going out and committing small crimes to get a JLO so that they can get into some of the youth justice programmes. That is not a preventative model. We need to be accessing those young people before they are in the youth justice model and getting them into the youth projects such as the Solas Project. We should not have a situation whereby young people feel that the only way to get some sort of support in the community is to have a JLO to get access to a youth justice programme.

I want to point out that these parts of our cities, and particularly this part of Dublin city, are falling behind in all the progress we were making socially in every other part of the country. We have seen young people getting involved in some of that dangerous driving and other activities as well. We need to access those young people before things get worse.

There is great work going on but the challenge the Senator presented where people are committing crime just to get on a system is not right and proper. That is not what we are building the youth services or indeed SOLAS or the UBU for. We will reflect very carefully on the evidence the Senator has just shared with me.

The officials in the Department have gone out and reached all the ETBs involved in youth services over the last while to get a sense of where things are at. Obviously, some of the most challenging are in some of the inner-city areas. We are very mindful of that.

Every young person who is directed away from a life of antisocial behaviour and crime is a win for that young person, for their families and for us all in the long run. We have to invest in a targeted way to make sure the funding is reaching the most vulnerable people. I take the points the Senator raised and we will reflect very carefully on it both at Department level and ETB level as well.