A new €600,000 initiative is to target disadvantaged young people to improve their employability.

Children's Minister Katherine Zappone has announced details of 28 community-based youth services.

They will be funded under the Dormant Accounts Fund.

The Youth Employability Initiative targets young people who are most at risk of unemployment - and who are not in education, employment or training.

It provides programmes for them to enhance their skills.

More than 1,000 young people, aged 15-24, from across the country will participate in the projects.

While each project is different, they can be broadly grouped into four categories:

• Social enterprise: These are projects which focus on developing enterprise skills and competencies in young people
• Pre-training: These projects aim to provide tailored programmes to young people in need of additional support including young offenders, young people with addiction issues, young Travellers and young people with disabilities
• Career guidance projects: These are projects which provide 'wrap around' tailored career guidance support including programmes that help young people to identify and address barriers to their progression
• Helping young people to get qualifications: These are projects which aim to support young people to gain accreditation including sports-related accreditation

Announcing the funding, Minister Zappone said: "I am very pleased to announce this initiative today which is a key commitment for my department in the Programme for Government and also makes a contribution towards the Government Action Plan on Jobs."

The minister also said that while all 28 youth services have experience in working with difficult to engage young people, this is a new type of work for both the youth projects and her department.

The department will also set up a forum with the successful projects, to share experiences and knowledge.

Over 380,000 young people participate in youth services, programmes and clubs throughout the country.