Rory O'Hanlon
Question:169 Dr. O'Hanlon asked the Minister for Social Welfare the bodies under the aegis of his Department supported by Structural Funds of the European Union. [5904/95]
Written Answers. - EU Funded Bodies.
The two bodies under the aegis of my Department are the Combat Poverty Agency and the Pensions Board. The Pensions Board is not supported by Structural Funds. However, the Combat Poverty Agency received funding under the HORIZON Community Initiative as follows: 1992, £389,209; 1993, £437,123; 1994, £382,554.
The HORIZON funding was applied for by the agency on behalf of projects in the Community Development Programme which are already being funded by my Department. (The Community Development Programme provides core costs for community development resource centres located in areas of high unemployment around the country). Some of these projects felt that they would be unable to access the EU Structural Funds themselves. The Combat Poverty Agency administers the HORIZON funding and supports the work that the projects undertook to do with its help, which includes the development of innovative strategies to tackle the problem of long term unemployment.
The Combat Poverty Agency also received £35,588 in 1994 from the European Social Fund, towards the cost of an Advanced Community Development Consultancy Programme (ACDC). The ACDC Programme, which is run by the agency in conjunction with Community Action Network and Meitheal, provides training for trainers in community development consultancy. The aim of this programme was to broaden the pool of people available to work with community development projects on a consultancy basis.