John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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299. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will provide details of each allocation from her Department’s expenditure budget to registered charities in each of the past three years. [2096/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Children and Youth Affairs provides funding directly to a wide range of community, voluntary and other organisations who have charitable status that are engaged in the provision of specific services to children and young people. The most significant share of the funding, which amounted to €249 million in 2011, €262 million in 2012 and €250 million in 2013 is targeted at implementing three major childcare programmes that include the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme, the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, and the Community Education and Training CETS) programme. My Department also provides annual funding to seven National Voluntary Childcare Organisations to enable them to provide a support service to their members in the context of these programmes. The individual amounts paid to the organisations in each instance over the last three years are set out in the following table.

* merged as Early Childhood Ireland in 2012

My Department also provides funds to support organisations through a number of other programmes that include the following -

- Funding for the support of voluntary youth work is made available on an annual basis to 32 national and major regional voluntary youth organisations through the Youth Service Grant Scheme which is intended to ensure the emergence, promotion, growth and development of youth organisations with distinctive philosophies and programmes aimed at the social education of young people. €11 million was paid to the organisations under the Scheme in each of the years 2011 to 2013.

- Support for Barnardos and Early Childhood Ireland who act in the role of authorised signatory in accordance with the Child Care (Pre-School Services) (No. 2) Regulations for the vetting of childcare providers. The Department of Children and Youth Affairs has facilitated these organisations in this regard through the provision of funding which amounted as follows for each of the years:

* merged as Early Childhood Ireland in 2012.

- The provision of €87,631 in 2013 and €50,240 in 2012 to the ISPCC towards the running costs associated with the operation of the Missing Children Hotline. The funding provided in this instance is in respect of the provision of a service.

- The provision of €311,000 to Foróige in 2013 to provide contractual services for a range of children and young people's participation initiatives that include supporting Comhairle na nÓg, Dáil na nÓg and consultation with children and young people on behalf of my Department and other Government Departments and agencies. Participation services provided by the organisation in 2012 amounted €131,235.

- Grants are also made available to groups and organisations involved in the provision of services to children and young people through the provision of €500,000 from the application based National Lottery Funding Scheme. The provision of lottery funding is essentially once off and details of the organisations that were allocated funds over the period 2011 to 2013 are published on my Department`s website - www.dcya.gov.ie.