Tom McEllistrim (Kerry North, Fianna Fail)
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Question 438: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the amount of funding provided to each individual partnership delivering the local development and social inclusion programme in County Kerry; the main projects which this funding enabled; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7609/07]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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There are six Local Development Social Inclusion Programme (LDSIP)-funded Partnerships that operate wholly or partly in county Kerry:

1.MFG Comhar Duibhne

2.North Kerry Together

3.Partnership Trá Lí

4.Sliabh Luachra

5.South Kerry Development Partnership

6.IRD Duhallow (which is based in county Cork, but also covers a small area of east Kerry).

The Local Development and Social Inclusion Programme aims to counter disadvantage and to promote equality and social and economic inclusion. It provides funding and support to local Area-based Partnerships, Community Partnerships and Employment Pacts. These Partnerships have implemented the LDSIP since the beginning of the programme in 2000. The funding they received has been used to develop a wide range of projects, which have responded to local needs. These are developed on the basis of comprehensive, integrated, local development plans.

Projects, which are tailored to meet local needs, are grouped into three areas of activity, although in general they involve integrated responses to the multi-dimensional nature of social exclusion:

1. Services for the unemployed

Within this area of work, actions aim to counter long-term unemployment and under-employment, targeting the most vulnerable individuals in the labour market. Typical actions include:

Advice, guidance and mentoring

Community-based outreach and information

Tailored and flexible training initiatives

Employer and service provider networks

Self-employment/social economy initiatives

Employment and aftercare supports

2. Community development

Under the LDSIP there is a commitment to build the capacity of target groups and disadvantaged communities to play a role in developing strategies for change in their areas. Typical actions include:

Developmental work with target groups to build their capacity

Support for community participation in local development

Needs assessment training

Initiatives to combat discrimination

Small-scale improvements to community facilities.

3. Community-based youth initiatives

Actions target educationally disadvantaged young people — from their early years through to early adulthood — as well as their parents, teachers and youth workers. Typical actions include:

Personal and social development

Early childhood education

Initiatives to prevent early school leaving

Preventative programmes in relation to substance misuse

Support for disadvantaged young people to progress to and remain in third-level and further education.

Details of the specific funding since 2000 provided to each of the partnerships serving County Kerry is as follows: