Youth workers say young people facing 'multiple crises'

The report says 'young people are facing multiple crises in relation to poverty, intergenerational trauma, the cost-of-living crisis, homelessness and lack of access to mental health support'.

Youth workers say young people are facing “multiple crises” in relation to poverty, trauma, and mental health, according to an Oireachtas committee report.

The report says youth workers are being left to “pick up the pieces” and calls for an urgent all-of-government response.

Based on hearings, the Oireachtas Committee on Children's ‘Youth Work in Ireland’ report recommends:

• Formally extending youth work to include 6-10 year-olds and providing supports for young adults aged 18-24;
• Immediate restoration of youth and community work funding to pre-austerity levels, adjusted for inflation, population growth, and increased cost of services;
• Redirection of youth justice funding into services aiming to address the “root causes” of violence and criminality;
• An all-of-government strategy to address specific crises facing youth people, including poverty, housing, and mental health provision;
• A reduction in the “unacceptable” waiting times for child and adolescent mental health services and provision of alternative community mental health services “as a matter of urgency”. 

The report says: “Young people are facing multiple crises in relation to poverty, intergenerational trauma, the cost-of-living crisis, homelessness and lack of access to mental health support and it is often youth workers working directly with young people who are left to pick up the pieces.

“A consistent message was one of young people in crisis, instability in the youth sector, challenges in retaining staff due to poor pay conditions, and a workforce that fails to reflect the diversity of the population in Ireland.” 

The committee heard evidence of young people accessing ‘food banks’ and ‘shelter dinners’, of young people eating at youth services and “too often” continuing to go hungry.

“Not only are young people requesting to eat in youth services, but they are also asking to take food home with them for their families,” the report said.

It said youth workers believe covid-19 restrictions had a “disproportionate and negative impact” on young people. They referenced a two-year waiting list for CAMHS in one area and a four-year wait for a youth mental health service that has yet to start.

The committee also heard that young people can end up being criminalised because their needs are not met.

Drug use

Youth workers said undiagnosed mental health issues and neurodivergence, such as ADHD, are reasons why some young people end up taking drugs.

The report backs the need for street youth work, away and separate from youth centres, to reach out to young people disconnected from their communities, often because of drug use, trauma, or marginalisation.

One group engaged in such work, Connect 4 in west Tallaght, Dublin, is seeing “significant positive results”, it said, but added it is a pilot project uncertain of its future funding.

The report highlights the central purpose of youth work in “building and maintaining trusting relationships” with young people and said this can not be simply measured in quantitative terms.

Witness Gerard Roe of Bluebell Youth Project, south city Dublin, said that while “problems in communities have gotten worse”, the sector has “become rudderless and lacking in leadership” and that “morale of youth workers is at an all-time low”.