asked the Minister for Labour if he will outline actions and policies being pursued at present or to be pursued in the near future by his Department to alleviate or deal with any aspect of the difficulties confronting the socially and economically disadvantaged area of the inner city of Dublin, north of the River Liffey; and if he will give details of the proposed timetable in respect of any such initiative, and the amounts of moneys, including grants, subsidies or other resources which arise in this regard.
Written Answers. - Dublin Inner City.
641.
My policy in relation to the north inner city of Dublin is to assist, to the maximum extent possible, economic and social development and particularly employment generation in the area through the employment, training and placement programmes administered by my Department and agencies associated with them. Existing and proposed activities under the various programmes are described below.
Temporary Youth Employment Scheme administered by the Youth Affairs Section of the Department of Labour.
The following projects in the north inner city area are being assisted under the Temporary Youth Employment Scheme providing short-term employment for 77 persons.
(i) North Centre City Community Action Project — (a) A project to train 7 people as coaches has been approved with funding of £12,300. To date £9,360 has been paid; (b) A theatre workshop involving 15 people has been approved with funding of £39,000. To date, £15,840 has been paid.
(ii) Irish Council for Environmental Studies (East Wall Project) — A project involving 11 people has been approved with funding of £9,530. To date, £3,312 has been paid.
(iii) Lourdes Youth Services — Two projects involving ten people have been approved with funding totalling £17,960. To date, £6,864 has been paid.
(iv) Liberty House Community Centre — A project involving six people has been approved with funding of £10,640. No payments have yet been made.
(v) St. Vincent's Day Centre — (a) A knitting project involving five people has been approved with funding of £16,070. To date, £15,870 has been paid; (b) A woodwork project involving five people has been approved with funding of £17,170. To date, £16,970 has been paid.
(vi) PICLE — Tosach — A literacy project involving 12 people has been approved with funding of £22,280 which has been paid.
(vii) North Wall Community Co-Op — A project involving six people has been approved with funding of £11,640. The project is due to commence soon.
Community Youth Recreational Facilities and Employment Programme.
The following projects in the north inner city have been approved under this programme:
(i) Transport Boxing Club, North Wall — A grant of £35,000 was approved and has been fully paid.
(ii) St. Saviour's Youth Club, Dominick Street — A grant of £8,000 has been approved of which £7,000 has been paid.
(iii) Sports Hall, Sheriff Street — A proposal for a sports hall in Sheriff Street has been approved for a grant of £100,000 but no payments have yet been made.
(iv) St. Joseph's Senior Citizen Club, East Wall — A grant of £20,000 has been approved but no payments have yet been made.
(v) Sheriff Street Youth Club — A grant of £50,000 has been approved but no payments have yet been made.
In addition, a grant of £66,000 was approved in 1980 for the Young Travellers, St. Mary's Place, under the national programme for the provision of recreational facilities. All payments have been made.
Youth Employment Agency
The following individual projects in the north inner city area are being assisted by the Youth Employment Agency:
(i) North Inner City Co-Op, Gardiner Street — The Agency has agreed funding of £86,000 for one year. To date, £2,000 has been paid.
(ii) St. Vincent's Day Centre, Henrietta Street — The Agency have provided funding of £53,000 towards this community workshop. To date, £19,000 has been paid.
(iii) All Hallows (Horticultural Co-Op) — The Agency have approved a grant of £16,000 for one year. To date, £9,000 has been paid.
(iv) Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Killarney Street — The Agency have provided £11,900 towards a six-month temporary employment scheme, all of which has been paid.
AnCO
AnCO are heavily involved in provision of training in the north inner city area and operate a policy of allocating as many as possible of their training places in the area to trainees from the inner city.
The AnCO Centre City Training Centre at Jervis Street expects to train 689 persons in 1983 at a cost of £0.96 million. Currently it has a total of 228 training places (144 adult places and 84 apprentice places) — 40 per cent of which are held by trainees from the inner city.
The centre also operates special workshops in the inner city. In the north inner city, 500 local people are expected to be catered for in 1983 on workshop courses at the cost of £0.84 million. The special workshops currently involve some 168 training places in the north inner city and it is AnCO's experience that almost all the trainees are from the area.
In addition, AnCO are running two community youth training projects in the north inner city catering for 15 trainees. One is the training of youth leaders for the Dublin Parks Tennis League. The other is the renovation of St. Francis Xavier Boys' Club in Sherrard Street. Two further projects have been approved for the area and are expected to start shortly. One involves painting and decorating the Irish Federation of Women's Clubs' premises in Phibsboro and the other the renovation of St. Saviour's Youth Club in Dominick Street. Between them, some 20 young persons will be trained in these projects. The 1983 budget for these four community youth training projects is £0.2 million. There are, however, at least six more project proposals for the area which are being considered at present. AnCO also channel inner city trainees to suitable programmes run from their other Dublin centres or by the External Training Division. There are no data available, however, on the numbers of trainees on other programmes who come from the inner city area.
Placement by the National Manpower Service.
A placement and guidance service is provided for the north inner city area by the offices of the National Manpower Service located in D'Olier Street. At present, the Manpower Service is concentrating on helping unemployed persons, that is, those on the Live Register and first time job seekers, to find employment, training and work experience. Three placement officers deal specifically with the north inner city area and, in addition to their contacts with employers and job seekers, they have regular contact with the various State and voluntary agencies operating there and provide them with every possible assistance.
Work Experience Programme administered by the National Manpower Service.
The Work Experience Programme is operated by the National Manpower Service. Under the programme unemployed young people who have left the educational system are placed with employing organisations for a period of 26 weeks in order to gain practical knowledge of the work environment and thus enhance their opportunities of securing suitable employment. There are 30 young people from the north inner city at present participating in the programme.
Employment Incentive Scheme administered by the Department of Labour.
The Employment Incentive Scheme provides for the payment of premiums to employers in respect of the recruitment of additional employees who were unemployed prior to recruitment. Due to the manner in which statistics are assembled it is not possible to indicate the number of workers from the north inner city area who benefit.