The first major study in the State of rural youth work has found that an urgent rethink is needed of how services for young people are identified and delivered.
Today in Dublin the Kerry Diocesan Youth Service (KDYS) plans to publish the results of the study. It highlights major deficiencies in services and warns that isolation for young people in rural areas is a real experience that could lead to "further depression amongst young people and even suicide".
The report has been compiled by Ms Ann O'Dwyer of the KDYS who says the six-month survey, of 150 groups in Kerry, has shown the need for an urgent rethink of how services for young people are identified and delivered.
"Isolation is a major issue for the young in rural areas. In some parts of Kerry young people are up to 70 miles from a cinema or swimming pool," she says. "Where there are sporting outlets, they are mainly for the young male population, and where there are no such amenities the only source of social contact for the young in rural communities is the pub.
"If we are serious about under-age drinking, we shouldn't be targeting and penalising the publicans, or those who do the under-age drinking: we should be providing the resources to make healthy alternatives possible.
"The survey has made it plain that for the past 20 years rural youth services have been totally neglected," Ms O'Dwyer says. "If not tackled in a co-ordinated manner, the isolation experienced by young people could eventually lead to further depression and more cases of young suicides, an increase in petty and major crime and an eventual exodus by young people from these rural areas."
The survey criticises lack of infrastructure and of action on rural regeneration and the fact that in many parts of rural Kerry there is simply no social life available to young people. The lessons learned in Kerry are applicable in almost every other county, Ms O'Dwyer adds.
The study, In From the Cold, acknowledges the work of volunteers but stresses that without sufficient financial commitment from Government, young people may have no opportunity to develop and remain in their own areas.
Today's presentation will be performed by the Minister for Justice and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue. Kerry was the original venue, but because of the foot-and-mouth situation, it was decided to transfer it to the National Youth Federation offices in Dublin.