Written answers

Thursday, 26 January 2017

Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources

Digital Skills for Citizens Grant Scheme

Photo of Noel RockNoel Rock (Dublin North West, Fine Gael)
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201. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will provide a list of applicants from the digital skills grant scheme; the criteria used in scoring each application; and the list of awardees and the amount each awardee received from this scheme and equivalent schemes for each of the years 2011 to 2016. [3624/17]

Photo of Denis NaughtenDenis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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On 18 November 2016, I issued an invitation to community, voluntary and not-for-profit organisations to apply for grant assistance under the Digital Skills for Citizens Grant Scheme which replaced the BenefIT Programme. The scheme’s Statement of Requirements specified the relevant qualification and award criteria, and is available on my Department’s website at www.dccae.gov.ie. In terms of eligibility, organisations had to meet the following minimum requirements:

- a minimum annual turnover of €100,000

- experience of having satisfactorily managed a project of a similar scale within the past 5 years.

Eligible organisations were assessed in terms of a published marking scheme in respect of the following headings:

- numbers of citizens to be trained, with a minimum threshold of 1,000

- detailed training proposal, and

- cost per trainee.

Overall, 29 applications were received in response to the competitive call for proposals, of which 22 organisations were eligible to be evaluated. A list of the applicants is set out in the following Table.

NameOrganisations
Age Action Ireland LtdLourdes Youth & Community Services (LYCS)
Ballyhoura Development Company LtdMake New Friends in Ireland Co.
Cahir Development Association Ltd.Meath Community Rural & Social Development Partnership Ltd
Clonmel Community Resource Centre(NCBI) National Council for the Blind Group
County Sligo Leader Partnership Company LtdOffaly County Council
Dyspraxia/DCD Ireland LtdOver 55 club
ECDL Ireland LtdRoscommon Integrated Development Company Ltd
Edgeworthstown District Development Association Ltd.South East Community Training & Education Centre Ltd
Family Carers Ireland LtdSouth Tipperary Development Company
Fast Track INTO Information Technology Ltd (FIT)St Catherine’s Community Services Centre Ltd
IE Domain Registry LtdThe Cork Academy of Music Ltd
Irish Congress of Trade UnionsThe Nagle Centre
Irish Rural Link Co-Operative Society LtdThe Shanty Educational Project Ltd
Irish Times TrainingThird Age Foundation Co. Ltd
Killeshin Community Centre

Following the evaluation process carried out by my officials, 15 organisations were offered grant funding to provide classroom training in 2017 to 25,761 citizens, free of charge.  Details of the training classes, which will take place across every County, will be made available on my Department's website as soon as training schedules have been finalised.

Details of the total amount of grant funding awarded to each of the 15 successful organisations, together with the initial payments made in 2016 in accordance with the respective grant agreements, are outlined in the following Table.

Grantees – Digital Skills for Citizen SchemeTotal Grant AwardedPayment in 2016
Age Action Ireland Ltd€221,490€59,490
Ballyhoura Development Company Ltd€90,000€27,000
County Sligo Leader Partnership Company Ltd€92,000€27,600
ECDL Ireland Ltd€90,000€27,000
Family Carers Ireland Ltd€92,000€27,600
Fast Track INTO Information Technology Ltd (FIT)€320,000€56,000
IE Domain Registry Ltd€100,000€30,000
Irish Rural Link Co-Operative Society Ltd€105,599€31,680
Meath Community Rural & Social Development Partnership Ltd€85,000€25,500
(NCBI) National Council for the Blind Group€100,000€30,000
Roscommon Integrated Development Company Ltd€595,000€59,500
South East Community Training & Education Centre Ltd€85,000€25,500
St Catherine’s Community Services Centre Ltd€85,000€25,500
The Cork Academy of Music Ltd€80,000€24,000
Third Age Foundation Co. Ltd€80,000€24,000

Eight of the organisations in receipt of grant funding under the Digital Skills for Citizens Scheme were grantees under previous BenefIT schemes.  Details of the funding to each of these grantees in the years 2011-2016 are provided in the following Table.

Grantees – BenefIT Programme

2011


2012


2013


2014


2015


2016
Age Action Ireland Ltd

€195,500


€34,500


€241,260


€215,400


€107,700


€107,700
Ballyhoura Development Company Ltd€32,500€8,125
County Sligo Leader Partnership Company Ltd

€35,228


€15,997


€15,997


€15,997
ECDL Ireland Ltd €150,896€174,240€158,400€158,400
Family Carers Ireland Ltd€47,966€25,623€29,846€14,922
Fast Track INTO Information Technology Ltd (FIT)€199,920€415,800€206,500€292,250€189,000
Irish Rural Link Co-Operative Society Ltd€45,900€2,200€108,900€49,500€74,250€49,500
Meath Community Rural & Social Development Partnership Ltd€31,559€5,569€15,758€31,516

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