Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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51. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the funding that has been applied for and utilised under the European Social Fund and skills agenda to facilitate offenders in on-site training and ex-offenders with skills in order to rehabilitate them for work once out of the probation services nationally per county and level and topic of education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28999/16]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may be aware, funding is provided by my Department through the Probation Service to a range of Community Based Organisations (CBO's) to develop and deliver services for offenders in their communities. The services provided include training and education, offender management programmes, residential accommodation and drug and alcohol abuse treatment programmes. The CBO's offer a service to offenders who might otherwise not be in a position to avail of a mainstream opportunity.

In 2015, one adult CBO and four Young Persons Probation CBOs were included in the European Social Fund Programme for Employability, Inclusion and Learning (PEIL) 2014 -2020, which is part supported by the State.

The adult CBO is Tus Nua, which is a specialised service supporting homeless women on release from prison or women with an offending background whose main aim is to facilitate resettlement and reintegration. This is located in Dublin.

The four Young Persons Probation CBOs are:

- Le Cheile, which is a nationwide volunteer mentoring and family support service;

- Ceim ar Cheim and the Southill project which are both based in Limerick City and target educational needs and promote pro-social lifestyles;

- The Dochas don Óige project which is based in Galway and provides educational and training needs for young persons.

€2.4m was applied for the Tus Nua project under PEIL 2014-2020, of which €1.2m can be claimed back under the European Social Fund. €11.64m was applied for the Young Persons Probation projects under PEIL 2014-2020, of which €5.82m can be claimed back under the European Social Fund.