Vol. 521 No. 2
134 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the amount of lottery funds which were available to his Department in each of the past three years; and the initiatives or projects under the control of his Department that were funded by these lottery funds for each year. [16817/00]
The amount of lottery funds which were available to my Department in each of the last three years were: £5.6 million in 1997; £8 million in 1998; £21 million in 1999. This funding was used to meet the cost of programmes supported by the voluntary and community services section of my Department. In addition to lottery funds the Exchequer provided £12 million in 1997 and £13 million in 1998 for those programmes. The programmes supported by those funds ranged from small, once off grants to three-year renewable funding commitments.
The community development programme aims particularly at mobilising the capacity of disadvantaged communities to participate in mainstream local development, training and education, enterprise and employment opportunities, as well as having a strong focus on influencing policy and working for change at regional and national level.
The family and community services resource centre programme focuses particularly on combating disadvantage by improving the functioning of the family unit. Centres can provide special services for lone parent families, young mothers and others considered in need of extra support and can act as a first step to community participation and social inclusion for the most vulnerable and marginalised families.
The core funded community and family support groups programme provides support for smaller scale self-help work in specific target groups which experience disadvantage-disadvantaged women and men, lone parents, travellers etc – to articulate their point of view and participate in a process of personal and community development.
My Department funds a number of once-off grant schemes which concentrate on support for local self-help groups, community development, welfare rights and information work. These are the scheme of grants to voluntary organisations, community development education and training grants scheme, and the scheme of grants for locally-based community and family support groups. These schemes and programmes of support for community development focus on capacity building, so that socially excluded groups and local communities can be active participants in identifying and meeting their own development needs, working alongside the social partners.
There are 50 money advice and budgeting service projects around the country. These projects provide an advice and budget management service to people in difficulty with moneylending and over indebtedness.
Details of all grants made under the various schemes-programmes have been made available to the Oireachtas Library each year to 1999 for the information of Members. Details of the 2000 grants will likewise be made available early in 2001.
