Patrick McCartan
Ceist:4 Mr. McCartan asked the Minister for Social Welfare the way in which the £500,000 promised in the budget for projects aimed specifically at women will be allocated; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Special Projects for Women.
A special provision of £500,000 was made in the budget for projects aimed specifically at women. Of this special allocation £150,000 is being made available to support the work of the rape crisis centres around the country. The balance will be used to give grant-aid to self-help groups working with women in the local community. They will be particularly directed towards the support of women in the home to assist in their personal development and involvement in the community.
The detailed arrangements for allocating these funds are being finalised at present. I expect to be in a position to make an announcement in this regard in the near future.
It is unfortunate that we did not elicit a lot of information from the Minister's reply. Is it the Minister's intention to consult with the Combat Poverty Agency or the Council for the Status of Women on this matter? Is it his intention to get their opinions as to how best the remaining £350,000 should be spent?
At the outset, I should like to point out that as Minister for Social Welfare it is my responsibility to know where the problems exist. I am conscious of where the problems exist and I work closely with those involved to overcome them. We have been in contact with the Combat Poverty Agency and the Council for the Status of Women. Indeed, we made contact with many organisations in regard to this matter. It is open to people to come forward with ideas but I must emphasise that it is not intended that the money be taken up by organisations for use on administration. The funds are intended to support women, particularly those in the home. We want to help them improve their position. We have proved in a number of projects how that can be done. I do not want the idea to go abroad that the money can be used on administration or research. I should like to point out that the Combat Poverty Agency introduced some useful projects. They have strong views as to what should be done with the money.
Is the Minister saying that applications for grants will have to be made directly to his Department and that he will decide on them? Is that an admission that the Government were wrong to abolish the section of the Department responsible for women's affairs which should be dispersing such funds?
That is a separate matter.
The first part of my question was not a separate matter.
The Minister is free to answer that part of the question if he wishes.
Applications will be invited through advertisements in the national newspapers.
The Minister referred to the rape crisis centres and I should like to ask him if he took into account the submissions made to his Department by those centres, particularly the one in Clonmel? The people who run that centre do excellent work. They have stressed to me that they are in great need of funds and that has been communicated to the Department. Do I take it that the views of the rape crisis centres were taken into consideration in determining the amount allocated?
The money has been made available as an exceptional additional measure. We are entering into consultations, in conjunction with the health boards, with the groups concerned. The Deputy may take it that all applications will be considered. We will try to have all the problems sorted out as a matter of urgency.
I have brought to the attention of the Minister the problems of one group of women in the home, widows between the ages of 55 and 66 years who, because of their employment record, do not qualify for invalidity pension and, because of the level of their widows pension, cannot qualify for the disabled person's maintenance allowance. Many of those women are in bad health.
The Deputy should put a question to the Minister.
Will the Minister consider granting free travel to those women?
That is a separate matter and should be the subject of another question.
I am concerned about that group of women who are seriously disadvantaged. It is unfortunate that nothing is being done for them.
I have taken note of what the Deputy has said in what is a separate question.
I must confess that I am not happy that only £350,000 is available. What will happen when the advertisements inviting submissions appear in the newspapers? In my view, we will end up like we did with the community grant scheme, we will have so many applications that we will not have sufficient money to satisfy a portion of them. If the Minister is serious about assisting those self-help groups he should make £350,000 available to the Council for the Status of Women and the Combat Poverty Agency for distribution. They are aware of the women who are in need.
I thought the Deputy had a brief and relevant question to put to the Minister.
If the Minister adopted my suggestion he would be removing the image that exists of political interference in the allocation of grants.
I do not accept what the Deputy has said about political interference. I represent the Members of the House as Minister for Social Welfare and it is my responsibility to discharge my duties as best as I can. Members can question me on how I discharge my duties. The Deputy, who is a new Member, may not be familiar with the amount of questioning that is possible in the House. Very often some of the best ideas come forward in the House. It is not my intention to hand over any of the money for research or administration. The money will go to community-related projects. I have encouraged the Combat Poverty Agency to carry out that type of work. They have a number of projects in hand that will qualify and I will communicate with them in regard to funding. I should like to tell the House that I have a sum of money in a development fund and we are working in co-operation with the Combat Poverty Agency in regard to that fund.