Youth Services
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-11
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Michael Moynihan (FF), Cork North-West

Arising from budget 2026, an additional €8 million in current and capital funding is being allocated to support the sustainability and development of youth services. This investment builds on recent increases. In 2025, €84.9 million was allocated for current and capital expenditure for the benefit of young people, which was an increase in funding of €7 million, or almost 9%, on the 2024 budget. Of this, €500,000 in capital funding was allocated to strengthen youth service infrastructure. Over the period from 2021 to 2025, the level of current Exchequer funding for youth services and programmes will have increased by more than 34%.
The 2026 allocation will further strengthen the foundation for inclusive, high-quality provision by ensuring continuity, expanding reach and enabling services to respond to the evolving needs of Ireland's diverse youth population. It will also allow us to deliver on the ambitions in the Opportunities for Youth strategy, which provides a platform for an effective, data-driven and joined-up approach to the delivery of youth work and related services. Further details on the 2026 allocations for the Department will be available after the 2026 Revised Estimates Volume, REV, process is complete.
Oíche na hÓige, a pilot initiative of the Department of Education and Youth, took place on Friday, 21 November 2025 and saw youth clubs and projects around the country open their doors to the wider community. Participants used the opportunity to showcase their diverse youth services and facilities and the value of youth work in their community. The main purpose of the initiative was to celebrate and build community awareness of youth work services and youth clubs. It aimed to show the value youth work can bring to young people and to create opportunities for the further integration of youth clubs into their communities. I was delighted to see more than 400 youth clubs across the country participating in the initiative.

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Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-11