Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 December 2004
241 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the extent to which applications for grant aid or other financial support from County Kildare have received consideration in the past two and a half years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33520/04]
View answerI am pleased to advise the Deputy that details of applications for grant aid or other financial support for County Kildare, since June 2002, are set out in the following Appendix. Appendix Under the Ireland-Wales INTERREG III Programme one application has been approved from County Kildare under the rural development and diversification measure. The grant approved for this project was €245,420.
Under the farm relief services measure of the NDP programme €2,120 has been spent to date by farm relief services limited on the training of operators in County Kildare.
The rural social scheme, launched by my Department on 17 May last, which aims to provide income support for farmers and fishermen who are currently in receipt of long term social welfare payments, will be implemented in Kildare by Kildare European Leader II Teo. The company is at an advanced stage regarding the implementation of the scheme, and has received a high level of interest. It is expected that the scheme will be launched in January 2005.
North west Kildare is one of the areas targeted for intervention under my Department's community development programme and officials from my Department are currently examining the possibilities with regard to such intervention. To this end, discussions are currently taking place with local development agencies and community organisations to assess the most appropriate structure for delivery of a community development project in the area.
The local development social inclusion programme is delivered in County Kildare by OAK Partnership and Action South Kildare Community Partnership. Funding totalling €3,069,823 was allocated to these groups under this programme in the period from January 2002 to December 2004.
Athy is one of the 45 RAPID areas, selected for priority attention. Funding of €33,000 has been provided by my Department to the Athy area implementation team to date to support it in the preparation and development of their plan and the implementation of the programme. None of the proposals included in the Athy RAPID plan fell directly within the remit of my Department. However, as the Deputy will be aware, I announced details of a number measures to be co-funded under RAPID earlier this year. Funding of €20,000 was allocated by my Department, with matching funding provided by Athy Town Council to support works under the local authority housing estate enhancement scheme. Under the RAPID playgrounds scheme, my Department allocated €30,000 to Athy, with a further €30,000 from the Department of Health and Children for playground development in the area. In addition, my Department has allocated top-up funding of €505,600 to three successful projects in Athy, in addition to funding allocated by the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism under the Sports Capital Programme 2004.
In 2004, funding of €76,500 has been approved to support proposals for improved cohesion in the delivery of local and community services by agencies in County Kildare. The funding will be administered by Kildare County Development Board.
The Dormant Accounts Fund Disbursements Board was established in June 2002 to oversee the disbursement of moneys from the dormant accounts fund for community and societal benefit. Funding may be provided for programmes or projects that are designed to assist the personal, educational and social development of persons who are economically, educationally or socially disadvantaged or persons with a disability.
To date the board has approved 318 projects totalling almost €30 million including seven projects in County Kildare. The details are as follows:
|
Grant Amount |
Name of Group |
|
€ |
|
|
460,000 |
KARE |
|
151,555 |
Hospitaller Order of St. John of God |
|
51,500 |
Board of Management, Scoil Phádraig Naofa |
|
300,000 |
Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary |
|
98,456 |
Kildare Youth Services (Curragh Youth Project) |
|
58,775 |
Athy Youth Project |
|
30,000 |
Athy Travellers Support Group Limited |
The Leader programmes are delivered in County Kildare by Kildare European Leader Teo. Full details of all projects in County Kildare are published in its annual report and are available on their website www.kelt.ie.
The programme of grants for locally-based community and voluntary organisations offers two schemes of once-off grants: the scheme of equipment and refurbishment grants provides essential physical supports for the local community and voluntary sector and the scheme of education, training and research grants is aimed at enhancing the capacity of local communities.
|
Year |
Grants |
|
2002 |
Details of grants paid to voluntary and community groups in 2002 are available in the Dáil Library for the information of members. |
|
2003 |
13 grants made — details available on Department’s website www.pobail.ie. |
|
2004 |
18 made to date, details published on Department’s website www.pobail.ie. |
The scheme of community support for older people provides funding to support initiatives to improve the security of older people in their homes.
|
Year |
Grants |
|
2002 |
Details of grants paid in 2002 are available in the Dáil Library for the information of members. |
|
2003 |
11 grants made—details available on Department’s website www.pobail.ie. |
|
2004 |
Applications for 2004 are being finalised |
The White Paper on a framework for supporting voluntary activity and for developing the relationship between the State and the community and voluntary sector was published on 13 September 2000. Since then a programme of work to implement key recommendations in the White Paper has been taking place. One of the main achievements to date is the funding scheme to support the role of federations, networks and umbrella bodies. Under this scheme two groups in Kildare are funded over a three-year period from December 2003 to December 2006: Breaking Through in Leixlip has been allocated funding of €198,000 over three years at €66,000 per year; Accord has been allocated funding of €141,000 over three years at €47,000 per year.
My Department, supported by Area Development Management, ADM, Limited, co-ordinates the implementation of the programme. While I can provide information regarding allocations made by my Department to RAPID areas, it is neither practicable nor possible to quantify total spend on RAPID across all Departments. As regards the development of the RAPID programme, I draw the Deputy's attention to my reply to Question No. 44 of today.
