Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 228: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the funding initiatives he has developed to support organisations seeking to build a sense of community integrated into Irish life among ethnic minority groups; and if he has identified the need for further development in this area. [11944/07]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Ethnic minority groups are supported in the main under the Local Development and Social Inclusion Programme (LDSIP) and the Community Development Programme. Other programmes and schemes administered by, or on behalf of, my Department are open to community groups regardless of their ethnicity. Information on the various schemes is available on the Department's website at www.pobail.ie.

The LDSIP aims to counter disadvantage, promote equality, social and economic inclusion through the provision of funding and support to local partnerships. The programme is administered by Pobal on behalf of the Department and is delivered through 69 local and community partnerships companies and two Employment Pacts in designated areas.

Refugees, asylum seekers, migrant workers and their families are all named as target groups of the LDSIP. Partnerships have developed actions to support the integration of ethnic minority communities in the areas of labour market, community development, and community-based youth initiatives.

Since December 2006 actions under the LDSIP have been complemented by the Initiative to Support the Integration of Legally Resident Immigrants (which is the responsibility of the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform). One strand of this Initiative is specifically for partnerships companies to support local-level strategies. To date 15 Partnerships have been awarded funding.

In addition, six Partnerships were funded in 2006 through the Vulnerable Immigrants Measure of the Dormant Accounts Fund, to enhance the employability of legally resident immigrants in their areas.

My Department's Community Development Programme supports the core costs of 182 community projects located in areas of disadvantage throughout the country. These projects are managed by local voluntary management committee and provide a focal point for community activity within their area of operation. Ethnic minority groups, where they experience disadvantage and/or marginalisation, are one of a number of target groups that benefit under the programme.