Investment in Youth Work: Motion
Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-15
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Shane Curley (FF), Cultural and Educational Panel

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. I want to begin by acknowledging the Sinn Féin Senators who brought it forward. I could be wrong but it is fairly clear they had closely consulted the ETB sector when they put this together. I was speaking to the head of ETB youth services in Galway during the week and it has been received very well so I commend the work they have done on the motion.
At its core the motion recognises something fundamental – that youth work is not an add-on to education or community life but is central to it. As defined in the Youth Work Act 2001, it is a structured voluntary process that supports the personal and social development of young people, complementing formal education. We in government fully recognise that. Youth work provides something that cannot always be delivered in classrooms or formal settings. It supports young people at critical stages in their lives, particularly those who are marginalised, vulnerable or at risk. It is worth stating clearly that this Government sees youth work not as a cost but as in investment in prevention, in opportunity and ultimately in stronger communities.
While the motion highlights funding pressures, and those concerns are valid, it is also important to set out clearly what is being delivered. In budget 2026, the Government allocated over €90 million in current funding for youth services, an increase of over €4.5 million on the previous year. This funding supports programmes reaching over 450,000 young people across the country. We are also seeing over €54.5 million invested in the UBU Your Place Your Space scheme, which targets young people most at risk and expands services, with new UBU projects supporting an additional 1,000 young people. Over €16.7 million is being provided for national youth organisations through the youth services grant scheme. Over 1,200 local youth clubs are reaching more than 60,000 young people in their communities. Importantly, for the first time, we now have a multi-annual capital commitment with €4 million per year secured to 2030 for youth infrastructure. This directly addresses one of the longstanding asks from the sector around facilities and spaces. I had the honour for five years of being the chair of the youth and arts committee on GRETB. I went all across Galway and Roscommon and saw the interventions that these measures make. They really change the lives of young people, particularly marginalised young people. We saw a huge intervention with girls from both the Roma and Traveller communities to try to get them out of their houses and into the community which was really welcome.
This is not an issue of disagreement on principle. Across this House there is broad consensus on the importance of youth work. The Government’s position differs slightly because we are not starting from zero - we are already increasing funding, expanding services, investing in infrastructure and implementing a long-term national strategy. While we welcome this motion and the focus it brings, our task now is to continue delivery, deepen investment and ensure sustainability. Ultimately it is about ensuring that every young person in Ireland, regardless of their background, has access to the support spaces and opportunities they need to thrive.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-04-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-15