Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 35: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the number of applications his Department has received or is processing in relation to the distribution of any of the available funding from the Dormant Accounts Fund or any other such funding from his Department to assist the integration of non-Irish national groups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12472/08]

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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In 2006, under the Dormant Accounts Fund, an indicative amount of €500,000 was earmarked for programmes and projects targeted at vulnerable immigrant families. Pobal carried out the appraisal process for this funding measure on behalf of the Departments of Community, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs and Justice Equality & Law Reform.

For the purposes of this measure, the target groups were defined as former asylum seekers who:

Have been granted refugee status; or

Have been granted leave to remain in the State; or

Have been granted leave to remain in the State on the basis of having an Irish born child.

Applications were requested from Area Based Partnership Companies and Community Partnerships actively working with immigrant families. Six projects were subsequently approved for funding, totalling €574,989, as set out in the following schedule.

In addition, the Deputy should note that new communities are supported under the Local Development and Social Inclusion and the Community Development Programmes, operated by my Department. Other programmes and schemes administered by, or on behalf of, my Department are also open to community groups, regardless of their ethnicity or nationality. Information on the various schemes is available on the Department's website at www.pobail.ie.