Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Tá liosta de na grúpaí a fuair airgead anseo. Tá sé soiléir ón liosta cé hiad na daoine a fuair an t-airgead agus cé mhéid a tugadh dóibh. Glacann an tAire go bhfuil sé tábhachtach an díospóireacht seo a bheith againn.

The European Refugee Fund provides assistance for the reception of asylum seekers and the reception and integration of refugees, persons enjoying subsidiary protection and resettled persons. The European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals supports the integration of third country nationals other than persons who come within the target groups of the refugee fund.

The office for the promotion of migrant integration in the Department of Justice and Equality is the responsible authority for these funds and Pobal is the delegated authority. This means that Pobal deals with calls for proposals and the appraisal and selection process, among other issues.

A call for applications was advertised by Pobal with a closing date of 20 September. There were 27 applications under the refugee fund and 40 under the integration fund. The appraisal process consisted of an eligibility check followed by a full appraisal of those which came through that check. The eligibility check was to determine if the application related to the appropriate target group for the fund and if it had confirmation of the necessary matching funding. The required matching funding is 30% of the total cost but only 5% for projects addressing certain specific priorities.

The appraisal is carried out by an appraisal officer of Pobal in line with the selection criteria. The appraisal is then considered by an appraisal sub-committee in Pobal. Recommendations are then made to the board of Pobal for approval, following which they are sent to the Department of Justice and Equality.

The criteria were published on the Pobal website when the call was launched. These included capacity of the applicant, need for the project, outcomes for the target group, strategic fit and value for money. Each of these criteria was given equal weight. More detailed information is on the Pobal website.

Additional marks were awarded to applicants which could source matching funding greater than the minimum amounts required. The Minister wishes to stress that the assessment was done by Pobal. The Department accepted Pobal's assessment of the merits of the individual applications. On this basis and having regard to the amount of resources in the subhead D9 of the Department's Vote this year and next year, the Department approved 22 projects, of which 16 are under the European Integration Fund and six under the European Refugee Fund. These were chosen in strict order of merit based on the marks awarded. The total amounts of the grants payable to these projects are €1,039,445 in the case of the integration fund and €442,389 for the refugee fund.

The Minister has made arrangements to put details on the website and have them made available to the Senator. The Minister does not propose to publicise details of unsuccessful projects. By definition, these will not be in receipt of grants and, in these circumstances, it would be considered more appropriate that unsuccessful applicants disclose the fact of their application themselves if they wish to do so in particular in circumstances where they may be seeking funding from other sources.

The level of funding available has meant that choices have had to be made. Also, the fact a project was unsuccessful on this occasion does not mean it cannot succeed in the future. The unsuccessful applicants were informed by Pobal of the outcome of their application and if they have queries, they can contact that body and a member of staff will respond. If there are further concerns at that point, it is possible to seek a review of the decision and this will be carried out by persons who were not involved in the original assessment.

While geographical location was not a selection criterion, it should be noted that 12 of the projects selected are based in Dublin, two in Galway and one each in Carlow, Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Louth, Mayo and Meath.