Helen Keogh
Question:16 Ms Keogh asked the Minister for Social Welfare the welfare services his Department provides for the travelling community in the Dublin area with particular reference to the needs of travelling children.
Written Answers. - Travelling Community Welfare Services.
Michael McDowell
Question:50 Mr. M. McDowell asked the Minister for Social Welfare the welfare services his Department provides for the travelling community in the Dublin area with particular reference to the needs of travelling children.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 16 and 50 together.
Subject to satisfying the relevant conditions, members of the travelling community are eligible for the full range of social welfare benefits, pensions and allowances in the same way as claimants generally.
In recent years, under the scheme of grants to voluntary bodies in the social services area I have been able to assist a number of projects organised by or on behalf of traveller groups. Approximately £14,400 was paid out by way of such grants in 1992. One of the projects in the Third EC Poverty Programme is a project run by the Dublin Travellers Education and Development Group, (DTEDG). This project is being funded jointly by the EC and the Government through the Combat Poverty Agency, to the sum of £300,000 in the period 1989-94.