Vol. 412 No. 1
82 Mr. Farrelly asked the Minister for Labour if he will outline (1) the amount of ESF funds approved for this country in each of the past five years and (2) the projects which received these funds; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I understand that the Deputy is interested only in the amount of ESF assistance approved for tourism in the past five years. ESF assistance is provided for vocational training for the industry.
Prior to 1990 ESF assistance was approved for CERT and the Department of Education for training for the hotel and catering industry as follows: 1987, IR£5.2 million; 1988, IR£5.7 million; 1989, IR£5.8 million.
In 1990, following the reform of the Structural Funds, ESF assistance was included in a multi-funded Operational Programme for the Tourism Industry. ESF assistance approved for 1990 and 1991 was IR£8 million and £8.5 million respectively.
The ESF assistance, together with Exchequer moneys, is used to provide training of personnel at all levels of the hotel catering and tourism industry by way of industry based training, college-based training, and training of unemployed adults and young people in the skills which are needed to match new employment opportunities in the industry.
