Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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493. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs regarding the recent allocation of capital grants for youth projects, if he will provide a breakdown of the amount of spending involved and the proportion of spending allocated to each local authority area; and when these grants will resume. [49742/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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In 2014 some €500,000 in capital funding was made available to my Department for small capital projects in the youth services. The aim of this capital funding scheme was to provide much needed assistance to youth projects to improve the facilities and equipment available for their work with young people in their communities. The grants awarded under this funding scheme will provide for the up-grade or replacement of equipment or for the purchase of essential equipment to support the running of the project/organisation.

In December, I was pleased to announce the allocation of capital grants to 50 youth projects and organisations throughout the country. Of these, 43 of the grants were allocated to local organisations, while 7 were allocated to national organisations. The scheme was run in conjunction with the Education and Training Boards and the details of awards under the scheme are provided by Education Training Board area, in the table below.

In 2015, further capital funding of €500,000 is being made available by my Department to support capital projects in the youth services. The focus of the 2015 scheme is a support for capital projects such as health and safety improvements to premises or the upgrade or refurbishment of premises. The closing date for applications is 27th February 2015. Further details are available on my Department's website at www.dcya.gov.ie or from the Youth Officer in the local Education and Training Board.