asked the Minister for Justice if a subsidy or grant is paid to the social aid centre in Marlborough Street, Dublin, if so, the amount involved and when it is paid, if he has satisfied himself that it is adequate and that it is being utilised in accordance with the aims and objectives of the applicant body and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Dublin Aid Centre.
146.
My Department have an arrangement with the Dublin Central Mission of the Methodist Church whereby at any one time up to six persons are accommodated in the centre after they have been discharged from prison or from a place of detention either finally or under the supervision of the welfare service of my Department. A capitation grant, currently at the rate of £41.50 per week, is paid in respect of any such person so accommodated. The annual payments made so far on this basis are as follows: 1976, £90.00; 1977, £452.00; 1978, £3,122.50; 1979, £3,821.00; 1980—up to 31 March—£890.00.
In addition, my Department made a contribution of £10,000 in 1975 towards the capital costs of establishing the centre. Other contributions were made by the Department of Local Government—as it then was—Dublin Corporation and the Eastern Health Board. The welfare service is represented on the management committee of the hostel.
To complete the picture, I might add that another part of the building is rented by my Department as a day centre and as workshop accommodation for persons who are released from prison or from a place of detention to the supervision of the welfare service. The day centre is run exclusively by the welfare service.
Apart from the foregoing, my Department are not involved in the work of the centre.