The Deputy will be aware that the annual Revised Estimates sets out the funding that my Department grants to public bodies and organisations.
The Department, in the main, does not operate funding schemes of a more general nature. However, there is one small exception. The Open Data Engagement Fund 2018 / 2019 made awards totalling €16,365 distributed over 6 projects. The Open Data Governance Board considers applications to support projects that would improve the availability and usage of data on the national open data portal data.gov.ie. The main criteria, apart from the proposing an Open Data project, is that applicants must be an organisation or individual in Ireland. This can include inter alia a public body, business, research body, university, school, college or civil society group. The other main criteria for the Board’s consideration is the level of the applicant’s own investment in time and funds is taken into account.