Vol. 497 No. 6
121 Mr. Sargent asked the Taoiseach the nature of each grant scheme operated by his Department since the formation of the Government; the objective of the scheme; and the name of each body or individual grant aided under each scheme. [25933/98]
In connection with the winding-up of the Irish Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust, ISSLT, a sum of £1.49 million has been made available for allocation to assist individuals and organisations with a significant contribution to make towards co-operation on projects as set out in the terms of the Irish Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust Act, 1988. This Act provides that the money shall be disposed of "for the purposes of such projects or undertakings, including the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, involving co-operation between the State and Northern Ireland or the State and Great Britain or relating to the island of Ireland as a whole as the Taoiseach may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, determine".
An interdepartmental assessment committee, which is chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach, has recently invited applications for funding for projects which would promote mutual understanding and reconciliation between Great Britain and Ireland or between the State and Northern Ireland, sustain and develop ventures and-or activities on an island of Ireland basis or relating to the island of Ireland or promote the welfare of the Irish community in Great Britain.
Preference will be given to projects related to areas which may have restricted avenues of funding open to them. The closing date for the receipt of completed application forms is 15 December 1998.
I earlier allocated funding of £150,000 to the Island of Ireland Peace Park and £13,500 for a peace bell at Messines, Belgium, and funding of £180,000 over three years to a Lectureship in Irish at the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool.
Under the aegis of the Commemoration Office of my Department, funding was made available for events or projects to commemorate the Great Famine and the 1798 rebellion and also to commemorative events or projects at local level throughout the country. For fuller descriptions of the objectives of the national commemoration programmes, I refer the Deputy to the many previous replies to parliamentary questions on these commemorations.
I am circulating to the Deputy tables showing the bodies, events and projects funded in 1997 and to date this year.
