Vol. 513 No. 1
607 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if the case of persons (details supplied), involved with community development, will be examined with a view to ensuring the registration and certification fee, being requested by an NUI college, is waived or paid for by his Department in view of the fact it is prohibitive in the circumstances. [1547/00]
In addition to their core funding, funding is made available to community development programme and other projects who wish to sponsor the attendance of a local person at a suitable full-time or part-time degree or diploma course in community development. Essentially this allows the project to sponsor a local community activist with a good track record of involvement in community development to undertake a programme of work experience and pursue an academic qualification over a two to three year period. This fosters greater inclusion of local people in the project, their participation in wider fora that make decisions on issues that affect their communities and increases the chances of the individuals involved themselves getting paid employment in community development work and the pool of qualified prospective candidates for community development jobs that come on stream.
The funding available is limited, so not all applications can be met. The deadline for receipt of applications in 2000 is 26 May.
The group referred to in the Deputy's question has submitted an application under this heading. The application will be considered after the scheme's closing date when all applications will be considered together. The group have been notified of the situation and will be informed of the outcome of their application as soon as possible after the May deadline.
The Deputy will appreciate that it would be unfair to other projects which might apply under this scheme to consider individual applications in advance of the May deadline for the submission of applications.
