Vol. 531 No. 3
324 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the grants available from his Department for the provision of community facilities in local authority or voluntary housing estates; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5921/01]
While my Department does not have specific responsibility for the provision of community facilities in local authority or voluntary housing estates, projects funded under the various programmes-grants schemes operated by my Department, which are located in such areas, may serve as a resource to these communities.
My Department operates a number of once-off grants schemes, namely: scheme of grants to voluntary organisations; scheme of grants to locally-based community and family support groups; and community development education and training grants scheme.
The purpose of these grant schemes is to provide seed money to enable community groups operating in disadvantaged areas to pilot initiatives identified as meeting new and emerging community needs. To qualify for funding, community groups must subscribe to a self-help community development ethos and must involve intended beneficiaries in the management and design of the project. The primary objective of these grant schemes is to develop people and their capacity to participate in society rather than at the provision of services, economic development or job creation initiatives.
In addition to the once-off grants schemes as outlined above, my Department also supports locally based community groups involved in anti-poverty and social inclusion work in their communities through a range of long-term funding schemes which are collectively referred to as the community development support programmes. These programmes include the community development programme; the family and community services resource centre programme; and the programme of core funding to locally-based community and family support groups.
