Vol. 503 No. 3
426 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he has received an application for funding under the scheme of grants to locally based community fam ily support groups from the Jo Jo Dullard memorial trust; if he will expedite the application with a view to approval in view of the national importance of this group and the number of local communities affected by the issue. [9940/99]
For many years my Department has provided assistance to voluntary and community groups through a range of once-off grant schemes. These grant schemes concentrate on a wide range of support for local self-help groups, community development, welfare rights and information work, and on the provision of seed money to enable community groups to pilot initiatives identified as meeting new and emerging community needs.
An application for funding under the scheme of grants to locally-based community and family support groups was received from the group referred to in the Deputy's question by my Department's regional office and is currently being processed.
However, I would point out that funding of services which are the responsibility of other statutory agencies is not available under my Department's grants schemes. In this specific instance, matters relating to searches for missing persons and provision of information and advice to their families are a matter for the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Garda Síochana and the group should also look to that Department for support.
