Vol. 530 No. 6
324 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he will make a grant of £26,700 available to the Shandon-North Cathedral community association to replace the community centre roof in order that the centre can reopen in June 2001 and be used by the Southern Health Board and other agencies for community based services for the area of North Cathedral-Shandon Street. [4754/01]
Under my Department's scheme of supports for community development and family support groups, once-off grants may be made to help voluntary and community groups working with disadvantaged groups or in disadvantaged areas. Under the scheme of grants to voluntary organisations, grants may be made for renovation or acquisition of premises, purchase of equipment or transport, once-off publications or research or other special projects.
Shandon-North Cathedral community association applied to my Department for funding, under last year's scheme of grants to voluntary organisations, towards renovation costs at the community centre. When assessing grant applications, my Department must take account of the overall level of applications received, the overall resources available to meet applications, and the degree to which individual applications meet the criteria laid down for funding under the scheme.
The application received from Shandon-North Cathedral community association was assessed and not recommended for funding as it was considered that much of the services provided at the centre were more appropriate to the Department of Health and Children and the Southern Health Board which have responsibility for day care centres and health board offices and also to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform which has responsibility for child care facilities.
It should be noted that, where previous applications from the group met the criteria for my Department's grant schemes, funding was allocated to the group. However, on that occasion, that is 2000, the application did not meet the criteria and therefore it was not possible to allocate funding.
This year's scheme of grants to voluntary organisations was recently advertised. Should Shandon-North Cathedral community association apply for funding, their application will be considered in line with the criteria for the scheme, taking into account the overall demands to be met from available resources. The closing date for receipt of completed applications is 23 March 2001.
