Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 March 2004
195 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the money allocated by his Department in 2003 and 2004 to directly fund services for persons with disabilities and the money allocated to enabling persons with disabilities to more easily access services of his Department. [8641/04]
View answerThe Department of Foreign Affairs is responsible for Vote 28-Department of Foreign Affairs, and Vote 29-International Co-operation. Details of the funding allocated by my Department for services for persons with disabilities in 2003 and 2004 are as follows Vote 28: in 2003, the communicating Europe initiative, which is administered by the Department for Foreign Affairs, allocated €10,018.11 in funding to the Disability Federation of Ireland for a series of ten EU information workshops for DFI members in locations throughout the country. The workshops were aimed at people with disabilities who wished to learn about the European Union, its history and institutions, and to review how the EU impacts on the lives of people with disabilities.
On 16 July, 2003, an interpreter was engaged to conduct a meeting between the personnel officer and a member of staff who is hearing impaired. The cost of this service was €101.34. On 3 March 2004, sign interpreters were engaged for a PMDS course at a cost of €426.72. The video production company making an induction video for new staff has been requested to include a sign language version. This will cost approximately €2,500. The Department's website and the EU Presidency website meet recommended standards for accessibility. The Department's building and refurbishment programmes give priority to provision of services and facilities for those with disabilities.
Vote 29 covers civil society funding. Development Cooperation Ireland supports specific projects and programmes for people in the developing world with disabilities through a variety of funding schemes and mechanisms, including the multi-annual programme scheme, the annual block grants and project co-financing. For various reasons, it is difficult to identify precisely how much of DCI funding in 2003 and 2004 is specifically targeted at disabled people, for example, certain programmes may address education, health or water and sanitation needs in communities with high incidences of river-blindness or landmine injury, but it is not possible to differentiate between the beneficiaries of such programmes in many cases. However, funding in the region of €300,000 was allocated for projects addressing the specific needs of disabled communities under the non-governmental organisation co-financing scheme and the block grants arrangements. Under the block grant arrangements for 2004, Action Aid Ireland proposes as one of its broad themes to focus on physical and intellectual disability.
Examples of projects or programmes specifically targeting disabled groups which have received DCI support include €88,000 allocated in June 2003 for the development of a school for the deaf in Nigeria. Under the block grant arrangements, allocations were made to World Vision DCI provided €65,000 to an integrated education project for children with special needs in Armenia and Action Aid Ireland gave €25,000 to the construction of an orthopaedic workshop in Nepal. Under the in-country micro project scheme, just more than €80,000 was provided to three projects in India supporting autism, physically handicapped and leprosy projects, a river-blindness control programme in Nigeria, support to a society for the mentally handicapped in Lesotho and occupational therapy services support to enable children with disabilities to realise their rights in Tanzania.
The United Nations Development Programme received funding of €57,340 from the human rights and democratisation scheme in 2003 for its strengthening the rights protection of the disabled project in China. That project is intended to lay foundations in policy-making for relevant government departments in China and to improve the mechanisms providing legal assistance to persons with disabilities. Under the missionary development fund, which provides co-funding to projects implemented through the Irish missionary orders, funding in the region of €146,000 was allocated for projects addressing the specific needs of disabled communities in 2003 and 2004. Examples of projects aimed at groups for those with disabilities include €50,000 support to Nkokonjeru Providence Cheshire Home in Uganda through the Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa. Support of €58,769 was also provided through the Vincentians order to a primary school for deaf pupils in Nigeria.
The Agency for Personal Services Overseas personnel co-funding expenditure for disability under Vote 29, subhead C is as follows:
|
Agency |
Country |
Skill |
Amount in Euro |
|
Health Action Overseas |
Romania |
Two occupational Therapists |
30,000 |
|
Irish Red Cross |
Iraq |
Ortho-prosthetist |
7,500 |
|
Skillshare International |
Tanzania |
Two occupational Therapists |
30,000 |
|
VSO |
Thailand |
Special Education Teacher |
15,000 |
|
Namibia |
Teacher Trainer of Hearing Impaired |
15,000 |
|
|
Philippines |
15,000 |
||
|
Vietnam |
Special Education |
15,000 |
|
|
Ghana |
Occupational Therapist |
15,000 |
|
|
Sri-Lanka |
Disability Careers Adviser |
15,000 |
|
|
India |
Physiotherapist |
15,000 |
|
|
Medical Missionaries of Mary |
Brazil |
Nurse for the Disabled |
15,000 |
|
Honduras |
Literacy trainer |
15,000 |
|
|
Sisters of St Louis |
Nigeria |
Co-ordinator of Leprosy education Programme |
15,000 |
|
John Grooms |
Bangladesh |
Speech Therapist |
7,500 |
|
Bangladesh |
Occupational Therapist |
9,000 |
|
|
Total |
234,000 |
DCI's humanitarian assistance is aimed at victims of natural or man-made disasters in the poorer countries of the world. Those with physical or intellectual disabilities are often among the most vulnerable groups receiving such assistance. Under the DCI partnership agreement with the International Labour Organisation, funding has been allocated for an ILO programme aimed at capacity building for female entrepreneurs with disabilities in developing countries. Funding for this initiative, which focuses mainly on east Africa, has amounted to more than $789,860 from subhead B of the DCI Vote. The Government also supports a second programme with the ILO that provides advice and advocacy at government level for the employment of people with disabilities in developing countries. Funding of more than $600,860 has been provided for this from Subhead B. The timeframe for both programmes is from 2002 to 2005. The ILO provides information and advice to governments, employers' organisations and workers' organisations on policy, legislation and programmes relevant to the employment of people with disabilities. The programmes also review the impact of legislation in these countries regarding this matter and advise the national governments accordingly.
Since 2003, DCI has delivered €2.89 million for landmine action in the developing world. Of this, €2.5 million was provided through a partnership programme with the Halo Trust for the period 2003 to 2004 and further funding of €390,000 was delivered to Handicap International, a non-governmental organisation which assists victims of mines and explosive remnants of war to rebuild their lives and livelihoods.
Much of the assistance DCI gives to countries of the Balkans and of the Commonwealth of Independent States is targeted at minority groups, including people with disabilities. Importance is also attached to awareness raising and to an advocacy role for disabled people and the organisations which represent them so that they can better influence public policy. In 2003, DCI provided funding of €217,336, the second part of a two year grant, to the international non-government charitable organisation, Catholic Relief Services, for a project for disabled people in Serbia. The project involved training for disabled people, for personal assistants for them and for organisations representing the disabled, the objective being to enable them to lead independent lives and participate more fully in their communities. DCI gave a grant of €18,881 in 2003 to the Bulgarian Association for People with Disabilities for equipment for a rehabilitation centre for people with intellectual difficulties. No funds have, as yet, been allocated in 2004 to projects specifically for people with disabilities.
In 2003, DCI contributed €250,000 to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to support its work for a thematic cluster that includes disability as well as gender and HIV and AIDS. This contribution was part of our 2003 voluntary contribution to the OHCHR which comes under Vote 29, subhead E. In 2004, we contributed €2.539 million to OHCHR. DCI will decide on the distribution of this contribution across various OHCHR activities, in consultation with the OHCHR. We intend to earmark a percentage of this contribution for the same thematic cluster reflecting the Government's strong commitment to these issues. In 2003, a grant of €5,000 was given to Gulluddene Unit for mentally retarded children for water tanks under the in-country programme in Uganda.
