Vol. 530 No. 6
320 Mr. Haughey asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the authorities, agencies, organisations and institutions established by legislation which are ultimately accountable to his Department and which deal with issues which were once the responsibility of his Department; the year of their establishment; the most recent annual budget of each body; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4570/01]
The statutory agencies operating under the aegis of my Department are the Pensions Board, the Combat Poverty Agency, Comhairle, formerly the National Social Service Board, and the Social Welfare Tribunal. Apart from the Combat Poverty Agency and the Social Welfare Tribunal none of the other bodies deals with matters which were once the responsibility of my Department.
The Combat Poverty Agency was established in September 1986 under the Combat Poverty Agency Act, 1986. The main functions of the agency are to advise the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs on all aspects of economic and social planning in relation to poverty; to initiate and evaluate measures aimed at overcoming poverty; and to promote greater public understanding of the nature, causes and extent of poverty and the measures necessary to overcome poverty. Before the establishment of the Combat Poverty Agency, these functions were part of the remit of my Department. The allocation for the agency for 2001 is £3,325,000.
The Social Welfare Tribunal is a statutory body set up in 1982 under the Social Welfare (No. 2) Act, 1982, to deal with cases where entitlement to unemployment benefit or assistance is refused due to an involvement in a trade dispute. The tribunal is an independent agency. Although the tribunal was established under social welfare legislation, the issues considered essentially relate to industrial relations rather than social welfare. Where a person feels that he or she has been unreasonably deprived of employment because his or her employer refused or failed to follow the negotiating machinery available for settling disputes, he or she may apply to the tribunal for an adjudication on the matter.
