Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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Question 64: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will provide a list of the amounts drawn down to date of the emigrant services grants for 2009 and 2010 for Britain. [8572/11]

Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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Question 65: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the procedures in place to ensure that the emigrant services grants, particularly for 2009 and 2010, have been spent in the areas that they have been applied for and benefit the target groups in the applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8573/11]

Eamon Gilmore (Tánaiste; Minister, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 64 and 65 together.

Through the Emigrant Support Programme (ESP), my Department provides funding to not-for-profit organisations and projects to support Irish communities overseas, with a particular focus on initiatives that address the needs of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable Irish emigrants. Details of all grant recipients since 2006 can be found on my Department's website. €8,459,319 was provided to British-based organisations in 2009 and €8,135,668 in 2010 - a full list of grant recipients is set out in the table. Two organisations who drew down funding in 2009 subsequently returned money to the Department. The first returned stg£4,085 due to an under-spend on their capital project while the second returned stg£3,600 due to the cancellation of their proposed project.

As elsewhere, the emphasis of the programme's funding in Britain is on supporting frontline welfare services. The organisations funded provide a range of services, ranging from informal community networking groups for senior citizens to outreach services and advice in accessing entitlements. This support has had a very tangible and positive impact on Irish communities in Britain, in particular on the lives of our vulnerable citizens, a point acknowledged by the Simon Community and the British-Irish Inter-parliamentary Body, amongst others. In addition to supporting frontline services, the ESP has also supported a number of community and heritage projects and, through capital grants, invested in the strategic futures of these communities.

With regard to the procedures that are in place to ensure that the emigrant services' grants have been spent appropriately, I should point out that a stringent set of crtieria is in place to ensure appropriate use of approved funding. Once an application has been approved, organisations are required to sign a Terms and Conditions Contract which specifically sets out the terms of use of the grant and obliges them to return a monitoring and evaluation report to the Department within an agreed timeframe. The evaluation report allows the Department to measure progress on projects against the terms of the funding. Our Embassies also play a key role by remaining in regular contact with recipient organisations, including conducting formal and informal monitoring visits and meetings as required.

A 2007 Value for Money and Policy Review of the Programme, conducted by Goodbody Economic Consultants, found that the systems implemented to administer and monitor the Emigrant Support Programme worked well and the key recommendations made in the report have since been implemented. A 2009 audit of a number of ESP-funded organisations in Britain and the US by the Department's Audit Unit expressed satisfaction with the operation of the programme in respect of these organisations. All aspects of Departmental expenditure are reported on annually to the Public Accounts Committee and subject to unscheduled verification by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Emigrant Support Programme Grants to British-based organisations in 2009

Emigrant Support Programme Grants to British-based organisations in 2010