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Savage cuts hit youth services

Friday, 05 February 2010

YOUTH workers will lose their jobs and one vital youth centre will be forced to close in the coming weeks due to savage funding cuts in a number of Southside drug task force areas. The workers joined in protests last week during which calls were made on the Government to reverse the cuts that they say will severely reduce their ability to provide vital services to youths in some of the most severely disadvantaged areas of the country. The Department of Education has decided to cut funding this year to youth services in drug task force areas on the Southside of the city by some 33 per cent. The cuts mean that up to 15 youth workers in south Dublin will lose their jobs and one service will have to close completely. Youth workers have warned that the cuts will have devastating consequences at a time when young people in severely disadvantaged areas most need help and guidance because of the recession. Workers at Shanganagh and Rathsallagh Youth Centre say the cutbacks mean they’ll have to close as the funding from the Department of Education is its only source of revenue. Reductions Other youth services that will experience reductions in funding this year will also be under threat of closure in 2011, as the Department of Education has decided to completely stop their funding at the end of 2010. A report published by the Southside Partnership last year identified Shanganagh and Rathsallagh as areas that suffer from high levels of social exclusion. The report also showed that the population under the age of 14 in both areas was 21 per cent above the national average. Emma O'Brien, Youth Development Officer at the facility, said that the closure of the centre would have far reaching consequences for children in the community. “This is a severely disadvantaged area and we are located in the middle of a council estate,” she said. “There are absolutely no other facilities for the young people here and there are over 700 houses in the estate with a relatively young population. “A lot of the children we deal with come from dysfunctional families and they need a safe haven like this where they can be around positive role models and learn new experiences. “We are hopeful that this decision will be reversed.” Brendan Dowling, who is a spokesperson for the Dublin Focus on Youth campaign, is also chairperson of the South Area Youth Service (SAYS), which caters for about 300 young people in the York Street and Charlemont Street areas in Dublin 2. He said the cuts mean SAYS will lose one of its three youth workers and he pointed out that another 30 youth workers across the city will also lose their positions. He described the cuts as “madness” during a recession and said the decision did not make economic sense. “It just makes no sense at all to cut the funding especially at a time when every area is seeing a rise in crime and all the other social problems associated with recession,” he said. “To start pulling youth workers at this stage is absolute madness. Our young people were getting jobs quite easily until a couple of years ago but now we would see a huge increase in 16, 17 and 18-year-old participation in youth services whereas before that they were all getting jobs and they weren't around anymore. Sense “Our whole youth service is run at a cost that is less than what it costs to keep someone in prison for a year, so there is no way that these cuts make economic sense and it is just fixing the books on a short term basis.” Local Ballybrack based councillor Hugh Lewis (PBP) said the decision to cut the funding for the Shanganagh and Rathsallagh Youth Service was “nothing short of social vandalism”. “Removing such a programme would have a devastating effect on the area and we will fight tooth and nail to ensure it remains in place,” he said. “It is obvious we need more services for our youth, not less.” Scores of workers and young people from youth services across the city who will be affected by the cutbacks protested outside the Dáil on Wednesday last. In response a spokesman for the Department of Education said: “Minister O'Keeffe is examining the scope for lessening the impact of the recent budget decision regarding his department's funding for this area. “The minister expects to be able to indicate the outcome of these efforts in the near future.”