Vol. 509 No. 2
121 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the funding provided for marriage and relationship counselling services for each of the past five years; the organisations which received funding; the services provided; the consideration, if any, he has given to the millennium project proposed by the Marriage and Relationship Counselling Services, Dublin 2; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20068/99]
The marriage counselling services run by the voluntary organisations are largely dependent on State assistance to fund their services. State support to date has taken the form of grant-aiding organisations for these services on a year-to-year basis.
Up to the 1990s, the grants were channelled mainly through the health boards. In the early 1990s specific organisations received grants through the annual budget. Some organisations were also eligible for grants under the Department's scheme of grants for voluntary and community groups. These grants were in the main for ‘once-off' capital projects. In 1994 the then Department of Equality and Law Reform assumed responsibility for grant-aiding the marriage counselling services and introduced a scheme of grants for voluntary organisations providing marriage counselling services. In 1994 and again 1995, £750,000 was allocated for voluntary marriage counselling services. In 1996, the amount was increased to £900,000 and the scheme was extended to cover the counselling of children whose parents have separated. In 1997, £900,000 was again allocated.
