AQW 4850/22-27

Mr Danny Donnelly
Alliance Party
East Antrim

Tabled Date: 18/10/2022
Answered On Date: 13/02/2024
Priority Written: Yes

Question:
To ask the Minister of Education (i) what youth work provision is currently funded by the Education Authority in Greenisland; and (ii) what plans are in place to reopen the Greenisland Youth Centre.

Answer:

The Education Authority currently funds Greenisland Statutory Youth Centre, and four registered voluntary youth providers: 1st Greenisland Boys Brigade; 1st Greenisland Scout Group, Greenisland Methodist Girls’ Brigade, and 1st Greenisland Brownies which are in receipt of EA generic non-targeted funding.

In addition, an Area Youth Worker for Carrickfergus and Larne has responsibility to support youth programmes in Greenisland where need is identified, this includes current delivery of the Horizons Programme with young people from Greenisland Youth Centre.

A Facilitating Life and Resilience Education (FLARE) youth worker is also working with young people in Greenisland Youth Centre to support positive mental and emotional health and wellbeing, and a partnership response has been established to tackle anti-social behaviour and incidents of potential heightened unrest within the Greenisland area involving part-time and full-time youth workers from the centre in partnership with PSNI, Translink and Carrickfergus YMCA.

Greenisland Youth Centre is currently fully operational having reopened in April 2021 following closure due to Covid restrictions and renovations. The Centre has remained open since then.