Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 2 Nov 1994

Vol. 446 No. 6

Written Answers. - EU Programme.

Richard Bruton

Question:

119 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the level of participation in Ireland under the EU Initiatives NOW, Horizon and employment/training under the EU Poverty Programme in 1992 and 1993; and the projected participation in 1994 and 1995. [2523/94]

Minister for Enterprise and Employment (Mr. Quinn)

The following table sets out details of the number of people trained in Ireland under the European Union Community Initiatives NOW and Horizon in the years 1992, 1993 and gives the estimated throughput for 1994.

Initiative	Numbers Trained
1992	1993	1994*
Horizon	1,374	2,934	3,297
NOW	238	1,698	1,190

*Estimated figures.

All training activities under the Initiatives will be completed by 31 December 1994, Participation levels for 1995 are not available as the Operational Programmes for the Human Resources Initiatives 1995-99 are at present being negotiated with the European Commission.

The primary purpose of the EU Poverty Programme was to pilot new ways of tacking poverty and social exclusion, rather than to create jobs or help disadvantaged people back into the workforceper se, and job creation figures are not available. However, the work of projects did have a certain spin-off in terms of providing training and employment-enterprise creation opportunities in local areas as part of their pilot or research actions.