Nora Owen
Ceist:3 Mrs. Owen asked the Taoiseach the grants and grants-in-aid paid by his Department's Revised Estimate as voted by Dáil Éireann on 30 June 1999; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21601/99]
Ceisteanna – Questions. - Revised Estimate.
The Estimate for my Department was voted by Dáil Éireann on 30 June 1999 and amounts to £32,233,000.
There is a provision within the Vote for two grants-in-aid, one for the National Economic and Social Council and one for the National Economic and Social Forum. These amount to £464,000 each. An amount of £348,000 has been paid over to the NESC and a total of £204,000 has been paid to the NESF to date this year. Grant funding was made available by my Department this year in three areas. First, £14.9 million was allocated to projects related to the millennium celebrations. This funding is administered by my Department through the National Millennium Committee and funds are allocated subject to the relevant criteria. A total of £1,301,275 has been spent to date in respect of millennium projects.
An amount of £800,000 was made available this year from the Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust Act, 1988, for projects involving co-operation between the State and Northern Ireland or the State and Great Britain or relating to the island of Ireland as a whole. An interdepartmental assessment committee, chaired by my Department, has allocated funding to projects under these headings subject to the relevant criteria for the award of such grants. A total of £472,920 has been paid out to date. An amount of £400,000 was made available in the Estimate for commemoration initiatives, with a total of £131,500 paid this year to date.
Is funding included in the Estimate for the continuation of the group set up by the Taoiseach to examine taxi and hackney issues? He indicated that £14.9 million is available for millennium projects, of which only £1.3 million approximately has been spent. Will the remainder of the money that has been set aside for such projects be spent before the millennium?
The taxi committee concluded its work last year and, therefore, no money has been allocated to it – it received very little in the first place. All the money for millennium projects must be spent before the end of next year. To date, grants totalling £1.301 million have been paid for the millennium festival, Míle Átha Cliath, the millennium book, the logo and other projects. It is hoped that a number of others, such as the Messiah project, will be paid before Christmas. The Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, who is responsible for this, said last week that within accountancy procedures he will examine which funding can be carried over for projects not already dealt with.
The Taoiseach referred to funding which has been made available to the NESC and the NESF. Does he agree that given the success of social partnership and the political success associated with the Tallaght strategy on public finances, it is time to adopt such an approach across the political system on the question of social exclusion as—
That is a separate question, Deputy.
Does he agree that the money he has allocated to the NESC could be used to study such a strategy so that this issue is put at the top of the agenda?
The NESC report, which has just been published, and the supplementary publications, all of which have not yet been published, will deal comprehensively with that issue and I support them. The Cabinet sub-committee on social inclusion has dealt with a number of projects in this area, which have led to a number of good publications. NESF is involved in detailed monitoring of initiatives, particularly those related to the long-term unemployed, poverty and social exclusion, which are also very good. There is a great deal of work taking place in this area and the more that can be supported by everybody the better.