Vol. 507 No. 1
95 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he will make the necessary funding available to the Youghal family support group to enable the centre to remain open; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16236/99]
I can confirm that the Youghal family support group has applied for funding towards the cost of employing a full-time co-ordinator and for management support for its resource centre. My Department also has a similar application from the Youghal community development project for funding for staff and running costs of a resource centre. Both applications were examined by the CDP technical group, which was established to advise me on applications for community development funding and on areas to be prioritised for pro-active development of new projects. The technical group recommended the establishment of a project under the community development programme to serve the town of Youghal and its hinterland. The technical group further recommended that, rather than the funding being allocated to one or other of the existing applicant groups, the new CDP project should be established in such a way that it draws on and involves members of both these groups – and of any other relevant groupings in the town. I concur completely with this recommendation. It would not represent good value for money for the Department to fund two separate resource centres in Youghal, both whose objectives are to tackle social needs and promote community development.
As I announced last month, Youghal is one of the 30 areas identified for the expansion of the community development programme as part of the commitment in that regard in Partnership 2000. I should stress that this is a decision in principle to establish a community development project in Youghal and its hinterland, rather than a decision to fund any specific applicant group. That is the clear brief that has been given to CCDI. The two applications received have been referred to Cork community development institute which is the regional support agency for CDPs in the southern region and which has responsibility for setting up the new project in Youghal.
CCDI will shortly commence the necessary preparatory work in the Youghal area. This will involve working with all relevant local voluntary and community groups in order to bring a new project to the stage of signing a formal contract for funding with the Department.
