Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 July 2015
191. Deputy Noel Harrington asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide a list of each of the current grant schemes that are administrated by his Department and that are available to community groups or projects; the total amount paid for each of these schemes for each of the past four years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27783/15]
View answerThe Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has a number of funding schemes for which community, voluntary and sporting organisations may be eligible. Details of the total amount paid for each of these schemes for each of the past four years are set out in the table below:
|
Grant Scheme |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
|
Emigrant Support Programme (1) |
11,297,365 |
11,455,364 |
10,539,850 |
11,998,575 |
|
The Reconciliation Fund (2) |
2,999,180 |
2,696,962 |
2,697,761 |
2,847,865 |
|
Development Education Funding (3) |
2,400,000 |
1,800,000 |
1,300,000 |
1,115,000 |
(1) The Emigrant Support Programme (ESP) provides funding to not-for-profit organisations and projects to support Irish communities overseas and to encourage closer links between these communities and Ireland.
The focus of the Emigrant Support Programme is on initiatives that address the needs of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable Irish emigrants; enhance access for Irish emigrants and Irish community organisations to local statutory and voluntary services; foster a more vibrant sense of community and Irish identity amongst the Irish abroad; and encourage closer links between Irish communities abroad and Ireland, to the benefit of both. The ESP also supports projects that further the outcomes of the Global Irish Economic Forum.
(2) The Reconciliation Fund formerly known as the Reconciliation and Anti-Sectarianism Funds, awards grants to organisations (mainly small community groups) working to address sectarianism and to further peace and reconciliation on the island of Ireland and between Ireland and Britain. The full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, and the Agreements that flowed from it, are central to the aims of the Fund.
(3) The Development Education Annual Grant is provided to organisations for a wide range of development education initiatives that promote understanding of, and engagement with, global development and justice issues in Ireland. Projects approved under this scheme include development education initiatives in the youth sector as well as in the adult and community sector.
