Laois youth services branded ‘dangerously underfunded’

Laois Offaly Education Training Board had the lowest level of youth work funding in the country in 2021. 

The figures were revealed by Director of Schools with Laois Offaly Education and Training Board(LOETB) Linda Tynan. 

She was joined at a meeting of Laois County Council by Youth Officer, LOETB, Mr Joe Thompson and Youth Services Resource Worker Ailbhe Enraght Mooney, for a presentation on the Youth Work Plan 2023-2027 in Laois and Offaly. 

“We are asking for your help,” Ms Tynan explained to council members at the monthly meeting. She said the funding was aimed to help young people of between 10 and 24 years of age. 

Ms Tynan said the Laois Offaly ETB provides support, coordination and administration of youth work in the two counties. In 2023, she explained that Laois and Offaly had received €574,175 for youth work. 

She said the Laois population was 91, 877 and 21.1% of these, or just over 19,000 fall into the youth bracket. The national average is 19.8%. She said the population in Laois has increased by 73% since 1996. 

She insisted that while Laois Offaly received the lowest level of funding in the country in 2021, there isn’t another ETB in the country that is overfunded. 

“We don’t make applications for funding. Those decisions are made at political level,” she said. 

“There is no reason why we have close enough the highest youth population in the country and the stats are telling us that it is growing,” she said. 

She said it made no sense that an area with a “massive youth population” should have “such a low level” of funding. 

Ms Enraght Mooney said a comparison between other areas with lower youth populations highlighted the low level of funding in Laois. She said the town with the highest percentage of youth in Laois was Ballylinan at 24.8% followed by Portarlington at 22.7% and Mountmellick at 21.4%. The State average is 19.8%. 

She said outlined ethnic minority groups as a percentage of the town population and said Portlaoise was almost double the State average at 40.6 %, followed by Graiguecullen at 36.4% and Portarlington at 27.8%. The State average is approximately 23 %, she said. 

Ms Enraght Mooney said there number of white Irish Travellers in Laois was 8.9 per 1,000 people, far higher than the State average of 6.5. 

Mr Thompson said they had consulted with over 150 young people in Laois and Offaly. They found the young people’s number one concern was mental health and in particular anxiety about the future.  School, exams, cost of living, transportation and social media were all  among the concerns of the young people. 

Mr Thompson said Laois had a young population, something he said was phenomenal, but he warned that those in rural areas were vulnerable due to a lack of services. He said young people’s needs are changing. 

“Volunteer participation in rural clubs is in decline,” he said. 

He said young people are looking for youth focused community spaces in halls or other places where they can hang out and be together. He said they were looking for access to transport and choices of activities within their communities and mental health services in their community. 

Mr Thompson said there is no quantifying the human cost of not spending money on youth services. 

The Laois Offaly ETB workers want political intervention and have written to Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman expressing their misgivings about the present level of funding. 

Sinn Fein Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley said the ETB’s youth work has been operating on a “shoestring budget” and she said the council should write to Minister O’Gorman seeking more funding. She said the letter should also go to the Tanaiste, Taoiseach and all the party leaders.  Cllr Dwane Stanley said it was “a disgrace” that youth services should be underfunded. 

 Fianna Fail Cllr Padraig Fleming agreed with Cllr Dwane Stanley. 

“Funding in Laois Offaly for young people is a total disaster and an absolute disgrace,” he said. 

He described the benefit of youth clubs as “absolutely phenomenal” and said the funding was nowhere near enough. 

“Over a million should be put into each county,” insisted Cllr Fleming. 

Independent Cllr Aisling Moran described the presentation as “eye opening”. 

“I can’t believe that we are getting the lowest amount of funding. Who decides that?” she asked. 

Ms Tynan said “the decisions about how it is funded are political and they are made at political level.”

Cllr Moran said there was “a huge number” of young people in Ballylinan with “nothing for anyone to do if they don’t play football” and she said they had nowhere to go unless they have a car. 

She pledged €1,000 from her council discretionary fund towards a youth services in Ballylinan. 

Fianna Fail’s Catherine Fitzgerald described the situation as “really, really disappointing” and said a deputation should be set  up to visit the Minister. The suggestion was seconded by Cllr Moran. 

“It is not fair and how any Minister can stand over it, I don’t know,” said Cllr Fitzgerald. 

Fine Gael Cllr Barry Walsh said young people have different needs nowadays and he stressed the importance of clubs. 

Fine Gael’s John King said young people put too much pressure on themselves. 

“It is important for children to be children for as long as possible,” he said. 

Independent Cllr James Kelly said he couldn’t get his head around the funding for Laois Offaly which he described as “uneven” and “unfair”. 

Labour Cllr Marie Tuohy described the youth services as “dangerously underfunded” and said young people are under all sorts of pressure. She reminded them that the services of SOSAD (Save Our Sons And Daughters) mental health support were available. 

Fine Gael Cllr Willie Aird said there was a huge amount of paperwork for potential volunteers.

“We need to make it easy for everybody,” he said. 

Independent Ben Brennan lamented the use of mobile phones. 

“The art of conversation is completely gone,” he said. 

Fine Gael Cllr PJ Kelly said there was an issue with getting children out to play sports. 

“Parents are handing phones to children a lot younger than they should be in my opinion,” he said. 

Cllr Kelly said youth “volunteers are hard to get for fear a child might say something”. 

Fianna Fail Cllr Paschal McEvoy thanked the group from  Laois Offaly ETB. It was agreed that a delegation would travel to see the Minister and that the ETB representatives would accompany them. A letter is also to be sent from the council to the Minister and party leaders in relation to the matter.