My Department administers a range of community schemes and programmes which support voluntary and community organisations nationwide in addressing identified needs at local level.
In the region of €21.3 million has been provided this year to meet my Department's commitments under the community development support programmes, CDSPs. Despite the tighter budgetary situation, my Department has continued to honour all commitments to the 155 core-funded projects throughout the country funded on a contract basis under the CDSP. Funding allocations to individual projects this year have been at least maintained at 2002 levels and have been increased in many cases. I am aware that the key staffing positions in these projects are dependent on continued core-funding and I will be endeavouring to maintain and build on that support to local projects in the coming years, subject to available funding. In this respect, I was delighted to be able to announce recently the establishment of a further 15 community development projects which will receive one-year renewable contracts effective from September 2003. This expansion of the CDSP, at a cost of €900,000 annually, further underlines my commitment to community development and I have further plans to induct an additional 15 new projects into the programmes next year, again subject to available resources.