Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 13 May 1997

Vol. 479 No. 2

Written Answers. - Grant Aid.

Helen Keogh

Ceist:

289 Ms Keogh asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the amounts and purpose of any funding or grant allocations made by his Department or by bodies under the aegis of his Department to organisations (details supplied) in each of the years from 1995 to date in 1997. [12847/97]

Minister for Enterprise and Employment (Mr. R. Bruton)

From the details supplied with the question, the following organisations were funded by my Department: Combat Poverty Agency; Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed; National Women's Council of Ireland; National Youth Council of Ireland; National Youth Federation; and Pavee Point. The following table shows details of the payments to these organisations. The 1997 column of the table reflects the payments position as at 12 May 1997.

The table below also includes details of allocations in 1997 which are earmarked for distribution to the organisations listed from the European Social Fund, except that in the case of the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed the amount includes a provision of £63,000 in my Department's 1997 Estimates.

With the exception of the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed and the National Women's Council of Ireland, both of which received additional moneys directly from the Exchequer, payments were made to the above organisations through the European Social Fund (ESF). This funding was made available by means of the Employment Initiative. The aims of the employment initiative are to promote social solidarity and equal opportunities, to contribute to the development of human resources and to improve access to the labour market. The initiative is targeted towards people experiencing specific difficulties in the labour market and seeks to promote their integration through developing new systems and structures, providing new forms of training and through creating employment.

The Exchequer funding provided to the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed (INOU) in 1996 amounted to £66,000. Of this, £31,000 was provided for administrative expenses and £35,000 was provided towards the organisation's costs in organising a conference of the European Network of the Unemployed. The 1997 Exchequer allocation to the INOU is £63,000 of which £33,000 is for administrative expenses and £30,000 is towards the acquisition and refurbishment of a building by the INOU. Exchequer funding of £6,458 was provided to the National Women's Council in 1996, under the Support Structures for Employment and Adapt Community Initiatives Subhead of the Department's Estimates, for technical support and monitoring of projects. The funding or grant allocations made by agencies under the aegis of my Department are a day to day matter for the agencies concerned. The Deputy should accordingly contact these agencies directly for the information which she requires.

Organisation	1995 Payments	1996 Payments	1997 Payments	Total Payments	1997 Allocation
	£	£	£	£	£
Combat Poverty Agency
	22,065.37	5,569.60		27,634.97
Community Platform				0.00
Community Worker's Co-Operative				0.00
CORI				0.00
Forum for People with Disabilities				0.00
Council for the Status of People with Disabilities				0.00
Irish Countrywomen's Association (Longford Branch)	6,000.00	55,518.27	39,061.65	100,579.92	74,585.00
Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed	26,841.00	161,461.61**(A)	54,267.51	242,570.12	173,158.00
Irish Travellers Movement				0.00
National Women's Council of Ireland	237,514.64	63,106.83**(B)	110,038.3	410,659.50	182,049.00
National Youth Council of Ireland	153,740.96	52,694.38	83,294.76	289,730.10	163,317.00
National Youth Federation	44,910.00	138,785.96	59,878.47	243,574.43	121,946.00
Pavee Point	12,000.00	128,927.14	75,914.41	216,841.55	146,675.00
Total	503,071.97	606,063.79	422,454.83	1,531.590.59	861,730.00

Payments have been made to these organisations through the European Social Fund with the exception of:

**Note (A) Includes £66,000 which was paid directly by the Exchequer through Subhead L2 in 1996.

**Note (B) Includes £6,458.88 which was paid directly by the Exchequer through Subhead M1 in 1996.

Under the E.S.F. Initiative "Peace Programme", three payments were made to Department of Social Welfare for transfer to the Combat Poverty Agency in December 1996 totalling £486,420.