Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 December 2012
90. Deputy Michael Colreavy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the amount of funding allocated to disability groups and organisations over each of the past ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54477/12]
View answerAt the outset I would like to draw the distinction between funding from my Department for Disability Organisations which took the form, during this period of time, of once-off grants for innovative projects capable of being mainstreamed, and the continued funding of disability organisations to administer their organisations which has always been funded and is still funded via other Government Departments including for instance Department of Social Protection, Department of Health and Department of Education and Skills.
The table circulated with this reply provides the annual total amount of funding allocated by my Department to disability groups and organisations over the past ten years. The vast majority of the funding was made available through once off grant schemes which were administered by Pobal and were funded from Dormant Accounts monies. One example of such a scheme was "Enhancing Disability Services Funding" (EDS) for voluntary, not for profit organisations, working in the Irish disability sector. Funding in this case was provided from Dormant Accounts monies under the Multi-Annual Investment Programme as announced in Budget 2005. This funding was provided over five years for disability groups and organisations operating at national / regional level who provided details of once-off projects which showed an innovative, efficient and cost-effective approach to service provision for people with disabilities and which had the capacity to be main streamed in the future. Many worthwhile projects emerged from the programme, with benefits to both participants and the formulation of policy and practice for the future.
Another example was "The Independent Living Support Programme" (ILSP) for which funding was provided and administered over the period 2007/ 2008 by my Department and which assisted voluntary organisations and service providers, who worked with people with disabilities, to purchase practical supports which enabled independent living for such people. Other grant funding was provided by my Department to Disability organisations and groups over this period for example to, People with Disabilities in Ireland (PwDI) and Vantastic to assist them to provide services to PWDs. My colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, provides funding to Vantastic since I passed over the funding of this organisation to him at the end of 2010. Additionally, funding was provided by my Department to disability organisations and groups over this period of time to fund awareness raising initiatives.
YEAR-AMOUNT PAID
2003-€1,668,448
2004-€2,036,861
2005-€2,489,366
2006-€2,054,159
2007-€6,637,937
2008-€5,749,056
2009-€3,543,393
2010-€1,491,309
2011-€1,111,000
2012-€75,757
TOTAL- €23,151,977
