Vol. 558 No. 1
479 Mr. O'Dowd asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the grant applications which were made to his Department under the grants for community and voluntary service; the persons who applied for grants under this scheme; the persons who received grants under the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23210/02]
In 2002 the scheme of grants to voluntary and community groups was announced on 14 January with a closing date of 22 February. Applications to this scheme are still being processed in addition to more than 800 already announced since the start of the year.
As has been the tradition in previous years, details of all the grants paid to voluntary and community groups by my Department in 2002 will be made available in the Oireachtas Library for the information of Members early in 2003.
480 Mr. O'Dowd asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the applications which were made under CLÁR; the persons who have applied for funding under CLÁR; the persons who received grants under CLÁR; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23212/02]
There are 18 measures in the CLÁR programme ranging from local road improvements to village enhancement and sports capital grants. It is not practical here to provide all the information sought by the Deputy under each of the measures. I will arrange to have all of the information that is available to me sent to him immediately.
In general the measures are implemented by local authorities or other official agencies and not by my Department. Accordingly, in the case of some measures, such as village enhancement and bilingual signage, the beneficiaries only become known to my Department when the claims for payment of the CLÁR contribution are submitted by the appropriate agency.
481 Mr. O'Dowd asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the grant applications which were made under Íocaíocht leis an Foras Teanga; the persons who applied under this scheme; the persons who received grants under this scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23213/02]
The allocation under the heading Íocaíocht leis An Foras Teanga in my Department's Vote represents the annual grant paid to An Foras Teanga, which, as the Deputy is aware, is one of the cross-Border implementation bodies established under the British-Irish Agreement Act, 1999. The language body comprises two separate agencies, Foras na Gaeilge and the Boord o Ulstèr-Scotch, the Ulstèr-Scots Agency. Foras na Gaeilge is charged with increasing the use of Irish in everyday life throughout the island of Ireland. The Boord o Ulstèr-Scotch is responsible for the promotion of greater awareness and use of Ullans and of Ulstèr Scots cultural issues, both with Northern Ireland and throughout the island.
The annual allocation from my Department's Vote to An Foras Teanga in any year is delivered by way of periodic payments to the agencies, the amounts of which are agreed with the other sponsoring Department, the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure in Northern Ireland, which makes matching payments in accordance with agreed relativities. Decisions as to the ways in which the annual allocations are spent are a matter for the boards of the agencies, acting in accordance with their approved corporate and business plans.
