Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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66. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the reason 47.1% or €3,933,413 of the €8,244,939 allocated to Ireland from the European fund for the integration of third-country nationals in each of the years 2007 to 2015 was returned to the EU; and the reason for not accepting integration funding in view of her Department's contributions to the EU migrant and refugee fund. [10040/17]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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The underspend referred to in the Question was for the whole period of the European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals 2007 to 2013 (but with the eligibility period ending on 30 June 2015), not for each year. This underspend was mainly due to an insufficiency of suitable projects with the required level of matching funding.

This Fund, together with the European Refugee Fund and the European Return Fund, was replaced by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) 2014 to 2020 (but with the eligibility period ending on 31 December 2022). The AMIF has four specific objectives relating to asylum (including resettlement), integration, return, and solidarity (relocation). Of the €19.519 million allocated to Ireland, €5.455 million is earmarked in our National Programme for integration. There is provision for switching allocations between specific objectives depending on where a greater need might arise and, therefore, I am confident that our national allocation will be spent by end 2022.

Ireland's National Programme for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund includes provision for supporting integration projects delivered by civil society organisations. Following an open call for proposals held in late 2016, 20 such projects have been selected and will begin implementation shortly. These projects will be carried out in various locations nationwide and will focus on providing practical integration assistance such as language and inter-cultural supports to Third Country Nationals resident here. A majority of these projects will run for three years.