Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 11 Nov 2003

Vol. 574 No. 1

Written Answers. - Regional Funding.

Paudge Connolly

Ceist:

449 Mr. Connolly asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the level of funding allocated to each county in the BMW region by his Department under the various operational programmes since the establishment of the BMW Regional Assembly; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26152/03]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. McDowell):

The total funding allocated to each county in the BMW region under the equality for women measure of the National Development Plan 2000-06 is as follows:

County	Amount (€)
Cavan	317,434
Donegal	552,336
Galway	373,303
Leitrim	312,825
Louth	255,217
Mayo	158,717

County	Amount (€)
Monaghan	190,461
Offaly	253,948
Roscommon	444,409
Sligo	50,790
Total	2,909,440

The equal opportunities child care programme 2000-06 has been established to support the development of quality, affordable and accessible child care to meet the needs of parents who wish to remain, or return to, the labour force or to undertake training or education to enhance their employment opportunities. The programme which is funded by both the Exchequer and the European Union has a total budget of €437 million to distribute over the life of the national development plan.

Since the programme launch in 2000, and including commitments made to 31 October 2003, over €66 million has been committed to child care services in the border, midlands and western region. Details of funding allocated to each county in this region are outlined in the following table:

County	Amount Committed (€)
Cavan	4,373,551
Donegal	6,649,114
Galway	10,676,477
Laois	4,244,522
Leitrim	3,899,788
Longford	4,423,447
Louth	4,324,160
Mayo	5,606,272
Monaghan	6,517,413
Offaly	1,748,082
Roscommon	3,558,789
Sligo	4,437,393
Westmeath	6,271,532
Total	66,730,540

In addition, child care services and child care practitioners located in these counties participate in quality enhancement actions funded nationally.

The level of funding allocated to each county in the BMW region under the Garda youth diversion programme for each of the years 2000-03 to date is as follows:

County	2000 (€)	2001 (€)	2002 (€)	2003 to date (€)
Donegal	6,349	69,836	25,000	30,000
Galway	6,349	68,566	93,308	50,000
Laois	6,349	57,138	51,639	69,094
Longford	6,349	69,836	25,000	57,000
Louth	38,092	91,579	120,522	135,791
Mayo	38,092	68,873	81,854	60,000
Monaghan	38,092	69,836	25,000	50,000
Offaly	Nil	31,743	75,832	77,179
Roscommon	6,349	63,487	62,387	66,009
Westmeath	38,092	98,428	131,946	149,226
Total	184,113	689,322	692,488	744,299

I can further inform the Deputy that the Probation and Welfare Service has a number of sub-measures within the social inclusion and child care measures of each regional operational programme. It is not possible to determine a level of funding for each county in the BMW region. Many of these interventions deal with offenders who have lost their ties with the original family home or who may be released from custody in a different county, or participate in a programme located in a county different from the county within which the Court was situated that made the referral to the service by way of supervision order or request for reports. However, the overall funding allocation to the probation and welfare sub-measures in the BMW region, since the establishment of the BMW Regional Assembly, is as follows:

Year	Amount (€)
2000	0.104m
2001	0.442m
2002	1.510m
2003	1.930m

The prisons training and development operational programme in the BMW area had expenditure of €864,000 since its inception in 2001 to end June, 2003. A breakdown by county is not available.