Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 June 2004
256 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if, in view of the fact that there are an estimated 500 persons homeless in the Cork area, he will fund a plan (details supplied) to address the issue at a cost of €21 million; and if he will consent to a request for funding of €14 million. [18276/04]
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As part of the Government's integrated strategy on homelessness, local authorities, together with health boards and other statutory and voluntary bodies, were required to draw up local action plans to tackle homelessness in their areas. With regard to the action plan for Cork city, the plan for 2001-03 has been completed and I understand that the plan for 2004-06 is at present being finalised by the relevant agencies.
The Government is committed to continuing to support local statutory and voluntary bodies in tackling the issue of homelessness. I am satisfied that significant progress has been made in addressing the issue in Cork since the publication of the homeless strategies. My Department's provision for the recoupment to local authorities of 90% of the cost of providing accommodation and related services for homeless persons in 2004 is €51 million. This brings to €190.6 million the total provided for this purpose since 2000. Further funding is provided by the local authorities and, in the case of care related services, by the health boards. In 2003, the Simon Community in Cork received €861,300 for its accommodation related homeless services and I understand, €780,000 from the Southern Health Board for the care related costs of its projects.
Should the Cork Simon Community wish to seek additional funding for an extension of its activities under its community plan 2004-07, the application should, in the first instance, be made to the local statutory authorities. It is vital that all applications and proposals are considered and routed through the Cork City Homeless Forum to ensure that they are consistent with the homeless action plan, that optimum use is made of available funding and to avoid unnecessary duplication of services.
257 Mr. Cuffe asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will consider introducing tri-annual funding to agencies dealing with homelessness to ensure a continuity of funding and give more certainty to the agencies’ plans. [18287/04]
View answer
My Department recoups to local authorities 90% of expenditure incurred in the provision of accommodation and related services for homeless persons. It was not considered appropriate to initiate a system of multi-annual funding for this sector in view of the initial difficulties in establishing baseline expenditure figures when the integrated strategy on homelessness was launched in 2000. Since then, the requirements for these services have been assessed on an annual basis and funding has been allocated accordingly. This has resulted in funding for accommodation and related services increasing substantially from €12.5 million in 1999 to €50 million in 2003. This year, €51 million has been allocated for this purpose. This has ensured continued and sustained funding at local authority level of existing projects in addition to the establishment of new projects.
The need for greater security of funding on the part of service providers is, however, acknowledged and among the initiatives being taken in this context is the establishment, in the Dublin area, of a system of three-year contracts between the statutory and voluntary agencies. The possibility of introducing a similar system will be pursued with other local authorities and the issue of multi-annual funding will be kept under continuing review.
