Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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292. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the status of an application for the minimum wage support fund by a centre (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19198/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The community services programme (CSP) provides financial support to community companies that provide revenue generating services of a social inclusion nature. Many of these companies are also funded from other sources and generate revenue from the public use of their facilities and services. The contribution from the CSP is towards the wage costs of the companies and is on the basis that the services are not fully self-financing or the cost of provision would be prohibitive on users.

The Department of Social Protection does not set the wage rate but requires the payment of appropriate wage rates, consistent with local norms. In 2015, 398 companies received a contribution towards the wage costs of just over 1,700 employees. The funding is managed and administered on behalf of the Department by Pobal.

Due to the increase in the national minimum wage from 1st January 2016, the issue of the sustainability of some CSP funded companies has come into sharper focus. In response, the my Department has established a CSP Support Fund for a fixed period of time (2016-2018) to assist existing services funded under the programme in enhancing their sustainability as social enterprises so that they might be more able to pay the new minimum wage.

Appraisals of submissions from companies under the fund have now been completed and the recommendations have been approved by the Department. Pobal will be communicating the outcomes to each company over the next week and arranging for the payments to issue.