Written Answers. - Departmental Agencies.
Enda Kenny
Question:
388
Mr. Kenny
asked the
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform
the name, remit, budget and responsibility, including its headquarters and staff, of any organisation or agency under the aegis of his Department involved in any type of development in the BMW region; the monitoring process involved by his Department in respect of such development; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[9804/01]
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue): The information requested by the Deputy is as follows:
Under the National Development Plan, 2000-2006, the Government has allocated £6 million for the BMW region to finance an increase in the number of Garda youth diversion projects, which are overseen by my Department in conjunction with the Garda Síochána. The projects are a crime prevention measure which aim, through intervention and prevention, to divert young people from becoming involved in criminal activity.
The projects will be monitored as set out in the plan. In addition, financial monitoring will be carried out in the normal way by the internal audit unit of my Department.
There is provision in the national development plan for Ireland for a programme to combat crime by addressing social inclusion through employment. The Irish Prison Service element of the programme is called CONNECT 2000-6.
In the BMW region it is being implemented in Castlerea Prison commencing in the year 2001. The budgeted provision is £2.17 million or 2.75 million for the 2001. Over the course of the national development plan the programme will be introduced to the other prisons in the BMW region – Loughan House, Mid lands prison and Portlaoise Prison. The total budgeted provision for the BMW region in this programme is £14.95 million or 18.98 million over the period 2000-6.
The National Training and Development Institute, a part of the REHAB group, who have a track record in developing work training for socially excluded groups, has been engaged to develop the training programmes for CONNECT and also to perform an outside consultancy role in evaluating the effectiveness of the project. The project will also be subject to the normal monitoring of public expenditure by the Department of Finance.
The probation and welfare service of my Department have been allocated £5.972 million under the National Development Plan 2000-6 for the BMW region. The probation and welfare measure is a crime prevention one which proposes to foster a number of specialised and targeted programmes directed at persons referred to the service by the courts or on conditional release from custody.
The projects will be monitored under the guidelines as set out in the plan. In addition, financial monitoring will be carried out in the normal way by the internal audit unit of my Department.
My Department is also responsible for offering advice on gender proofing of all policies and programmes funded through the National Development Plan 2000-2006. A new unit has been established within my Department to support this work, the national development plan gender equality unit. The total budget for the unit covering the BMW and southern and eastern regions is £4 million for the period 2000 to 2006. In addition to engaging in training and advisory activities which benefits both regions, the unit is providing funding to a consortium of county development boards in the BMW region to develop a model of training on gender proofing. They are: Roscommon, Donegal, Offaly, Galway, Sligo and Westmeath. An advisory group has been set up to oversee the implementation and outcomes of this training. The unit has a staff of three who are employed full-time: a gender equality expert, an executive officer and a clerical officer. Arrangements to increase the staff complement of the unit are under way.
My Department is also responsible for an equality for women measure in the BMW region. The measure will fund initiatives under the following strands: the up-skilling and retraining of women employees; encouraging entrepreneurship and career development among women; innovative projects for disadvantaged women and women over 50 years of age; support for the participation of women in decision-making; gender proofing of personnel practices; family friendly arrangements in employment and sharing of family responsibilities; and a research and information campaign for return to work women.
The budget for the measure for the BMW region is £6.1 million over the period 2000-6. There are four departmental staff working on the implementation of this measure and a similar measure for the southern and eastern region: an assistant principal part-time, a higher executive officer full-time, an executive officer part-time and one clerical officer part-time. My Department recently engaged a technical and support service for the two measures for the period February 2001 to February 2004 to advise on project selection and to provide project management support.
These are new measures. The first four strands will be delivered directly by my Department with the aid of technical support. Last year my Department advertised for project proposals under these strands for the period 2001-2003. The available budget for the BMW region was £1.6 million. The closing date for receipt of applications was 5 January 2001. A total of 126 applications were received from the BMW region involving an estimated expenditure of £25 million. These applications are now being examined. A project appraisal committee comprising representatives of my Department, the BMW and S and E regional assemblies, the Equality Authority and the four pillars of social partnership has been set up to assist with this task. The project appraisal committee will submit recommendations to me for decision.
The Equality Authority, on behalf of my Department, is delivering the strand on gender proofing of personnel policies in both the BMW and S and E regions. Following a tendering process, the authority has set up a panel of experts to carry out the gender equality audits of organisations participating in this initiative.
A national framework committee for the development of family friendly policies at the level of the enterprise is delivering the family friendly strand under the measure. The national framework committee is an initiative under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness. The committee is chaired by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and comprises representatives of IBEC, ICTU, public sector employers, my Department and the Equality Authority. To date the committee organised family friendly workplace day on 1 March, set up a website and published a brochure on family friendly policies.
The measure is also funding research on the information needs of women who are seeking to return to the workforce and research to support women in business and management. The measure is also co-funding, with the European Commission, research on reconciling work and family roles with particular reference on how to involve men in family and domestic activities.
Measures funded under the national development plan are required to meet agreed reporting and monitoring requirements. The progress on the implementation of the measure will be reported twice a year to the relevant monitoring committee, including details of financial expenditure and performance indicators.
My Department is also chairing a new committee set up under the national development plan, the Equal Opportunities and Social Inclusion Co-ordinating Committee. This committee will give added support for gender equality, social inclusion and equal opportunities in relation to NDP expenditure, including in the BMW region.
The Courts Service has responsibility for the provision and maintenance of court accommodation. As part of the national court service building programme the following capital projects are under way at present in the BMW regions: Carrickmacross courthouse, £0.77 million and Sligo courthouse, £5.9 million.
Projects recently completed include the refurbishment of Arva courthouse at a cost of £250,000 and Buncrana courthouse at a cost of £450,000.
It should be noted that the costs referred to above are total project costs including fit-out.
In Monaghan courthouse the space currently occupied by Monaghan County Council is being acquired by the Courts Service and will be developed for court use. At present it is not possible to give a costing for this project.
Major refurbishment and extension of Dundalk courthouse is due to commence in the immediate future and the estimated total project cost is £8.4 million. Other projects which it is intended to commence later this year include the refurbishment of courthouses in Castlebar at an estimated cost of £10 million, Longford at an estimated cost of £5 million, Boyle at an estimated cost of £1 million, Tubbercurry the estimated cost of which is not available at present and Swinford at an estimated cost of £1.2 million. The Courts Service is also reviewing its accommodation requirements in Donegal with a view to providing comprehensive court facilities for court users.
The Courts Service is also developing court services in all court offices including the computerisation of court offices in the BMW and other regions throughout the country.
