Peadar Tóibín
Question:1745. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the allocation to men's sheds over each of the past ten years. [38402/17]
View answerMonday, 11 September 2017
Questions (1745)
Written answers
I am advised that prior to 2014, no applications were received from the Irish Men’s Sheds Association Ltd. for funding under the Scheme to Support National Organisations in the Community and Voluntary sector. The Irish Men’s Sheds Association Ltd successfully applied for funding under the 2014-2016 iteration of the Scheme. The scheme ran from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2016 and the organisation was allocated €175,950 over this 24 month period.
The current scheme commenced on 1 July 2016 to run for a three year period. I am advised that the Men’s Sheds Association did not apply for funding under the current scheme.
My Department’s Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) provides support to local community groups under Goal 1 of SICAP. The focus of Goal 1 is to support and resource disadvantaged communities and marginalised target groups to engage with relevant local and national stakeholders in identifying and addressing social exclusion and equality issues. The Goal Objectives are:
- To support and promote the community engagement of disadvantaged target groups across the life-cycle;
- To support the development of local community groups which promote equality and social inclusion in a local, regional or national context;
- To support disadvantaged communities and individuals to enhance their participation in local, regional and national decision-making structures;
- To develop and facilitate strategic collaborative frameworks and networks as part of a dialogue for developing solutions to social exclusion.
SICAP commenced on 1 April 2015 and continues until 31 December 2017.
Activities recorded to date show:
- 42 Programme Implementers recorded activity to support the men’s sheds;
- 182 Men’s Sheds supported;
- 8 Women’s Sheds supported;
- 1,729 support interventions have been provided to these groups since the start of SICAP. Interventions included: support to leverage funding, Capacity building and organisational development, Collective Action, Pre development and group formation, Participation in local, regional or national decision-making structures and Social Enterprise;
- 5 groups received a small grant (total amount: €4,387).
In addition to the supports above and outside of SICAP a once off grant of €15,000 was provided in 2016 to support the build costs of a Men’s Shed.