Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 January 2017
201. Deputy Noel Rock asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will provide a list of applicants from the digital skills grant scheme; the criteria used in scoring each application; and the list of awardees and the amount each awardee received from this scheme and equivalent schemes for each of the years 2011 to 2016. [3624/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraOn 18 November 2016, I issued an invitation to community, voluntary and not-for-profit organisations to apply for grant assistance under the Digital Skills for Citizens Grant Scheme which replaced the BenefIT Programme. The scheme’s Statement of Requirements specified the relevant qualification and award criteria, and is available on my Department’s website at www.dccae.gov.ie. In terms of eligibility, organisations had to meet the following minimum requirements:
- a minimum annual turnover of €100,000
- experience of having satisfactorily managed a project of a similar scale within the past 5 years.
Eligible organisations were assessed in terms of a published marking scheme in respect of the following headings:
- numbers of citizens to be trained, with a minimum threshold of 1,000
- detailed training proposal, and
- cost per trainee.
Overall, 29 applications were received in response to the competitive call for proposals, of which 22 organisations were eligible to be evaluated. A list of the applicants is set out in the following Table.
|
Name |
Organisations |
|
Age Action Ireland Ltd |
Lourdes Youth & Community Services (LYCS) |
|
Ballyhoura Development Company Ltd |
Make New Friends in Ireland Co. |
|
Cahir Development Association Ltd. |
Meath Community Rural & Social Development Partnership Ltd |
|
Clonmel Community Resource Centre |
(NCBI) National Council for the Blind Group |
|
County Sligo Leader Partnership Company Ltd |
Offaly County Council |
|
Dyspraxia/DCD Ireland Ltd |
Over 55 club |
|
ECDL Ireland Ltd |
Roscommon Integrated Development Company Ltd |
|
Edgeworthstown District Development Association Ltd. |
South East Community Training & Education Centre Ltd |
|
Family Carers Ireland Ltd |
South Tipperary Development Company |
|
Fast Track INTO Information Technology Ltd (FIT) |
St Catherine’s Community Services Centre Ltd |
|
IE Domain Registry Ltd |
The Cork Academy of Music Ltd |
|
Irish Congress of Trade Unions |
The Nagle Centre |
|
Irish Rural Link Co-Operative Society Ltd |
The Shanty Educational Project Ltd |
|
Irish Times Training |
Third Age Foundation Co. Ltd |
|
Killeshin Community Centre |
Following the evaluation process carried out by my officials, 15 organisations were offered grant funding to provide classroom training in 2017 to 25,761 citizens, free of charge. Details of the training classes, which will take place across every County, will be made available on my Department's website as soon as training schedules have been finalised.
Details of the total amount of grant funding awarded to each of the 15 successful organisations, together with the initial payments made in 2016 in accordance with the respective grant agreements, are outlined in the following Table.
|
Grantees – Digital Skills for Citizen Scheme |
Total Grant Awarded |
Payment in 2016 |
|
Age Action Ireland Ltd |
€221,490 |
€59,490 |
|
Ballyhoura Development Company Ltd |
€90,000 |
€27,000 |
|
County Sligo Leader Partnership Company Ltd |
€92,000 |
€27,600 |
|
ECDL Ireland Ltd |
€90,000 |
€27,000 |
|
Family Carers Ireland Ltd |
€92,000 |
€27,600 |
|
Fast Track INTO Information Technology Ltd (FIT) |
€320,000 |
€56,000 |
|
IE Domain Registry Ltd |
€100,000 |
€30,000 |
|
Irish Rural Link Co-Operative Society Ltd |
€105,599 |
€31,680 |
|
Meath Community Rural & Social Development Partnership Ltd |
€85,000 |
€25,500 |
|
(NCBI) National Council for the Blind Group |
€100,000 |
€30,000 |
|
Roscommon Integrated Development Company Ltd |
€595,000 |
€59,500 |
|
South East Community Training & Education Centre Ltd |
€85,000 |
€25,500 |
|
St Catherine’s Community Services Centre Ltd |
€85,000 |
€25,500 |
|
The Cork Academy of Music Ltd |
€80,000 |
€24,000 |
|
Third Age Foundation Co. Ltd |
€80,000 |
€24,000 |
Eight of the organisations in receipt of grant funding under the Digital Skills for Citizens Scheme were grantees under previous BenefIT schemes. Details of the funding to each of these grantees in the years 2011-2016 are provided in the following Table.
|
Grantees – BenefIT Programme |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
|
Age Action Ireland Ltd |
€195,500 |
€34,500 |
€241,260 |
€215,400 |
€107,700 |
€107,700 |
|
Ballyhoura Development Company Ltd |
€32,500 |
€8,125 |
||||
|
County Sligo Leader Partnership Company Ltd |
€35,228 |
€15,997 |
€15,997 |
€15,997 |
||
|
ECDL Ireland Ltd |
€150,896 |
€174,240 |
€158,400 |
€158,400 |
||
|
Family Carers Ireland Ltd |
€47,966 |
€25,623 |
€29,846 |
€14,922 |
||
|
Fast Track INTO Information Technology Ltd (FIT) |
€199,920 |
€415,800 |
€206,500 |
€292,250 |
€189,000 |
|
|
Irish Rural Link Co-Operative Society Ltd |
€45,900 |
€2,200 |
€108,900 |
€49,500 |
€74,250 |
€49,500 |
|
Meath Community Rural & Social Development Partnership Ltd |
€31,559 |
€5,569 |
€15,758 |
€31,516 |
