Written answers

Wednesday, 16 December 2020

Department of Rural and Community Development

Covid-19 Pandemic Supports

Photo of Rose Conway-WalshRose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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375. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the breakdown of Covid-19-related supports allocated to community halls and centres by county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43830/20]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department has provided a number of Covid-19 related supports to community halls and centres. Such funding includes:

The €2.5 million COVID-19 Emergency Fund.This was introduced in April 2020 to provide funding to community groups participating in the Government’s “Community Call” initiative which was led by the Local Authorities. Community halls and centres that were involved in the “Community Call” were eligible to apply for this funding.

My Department's Community Services Programme (CSP)supports over 420 community organisations to provide local services through a social enterprise model, including facilities such as community halls and centres under Strand 1 and 1s.

CSP funding is provided as a fixed annual contribution to the cost of supporting an agreed number of full-time equivalent (FTE) positions and a manager, where warranted. As a result of COVID-19 my Department developed a €4.75m Support Fund to assist CSP supported organisations most in need, to retain their CSP supported employees on their payroll and also provides assistance for the Employers PRSI contribution, during this crisis period and until April 2021.

To date, 357 of the CSP supported services have been approved funding of some €3.6m under the CSP Support Fund, as outlined in the table below. A further 30 organisations are currently under consideration, a final decision will be made in the coming week. Of those supported under the CSP Support Fund, 224 organisations are supported under Strand 1 and 1s – community halls and facilities.

The Community and Voluntary Sector Covid-19 Stability Fundwas intended to be a targeted once-off cash injection for organisations and groups currently delivering critical front-line services to the most at need in our society and in danger of imminent closure due to lost fund-raised or traded income as a direct result of restrictions to counter the spread of COVID-19. The criteria of the scheme stated that any grants awarded would be dependent on the need identified and organisations approved for funding were prioritised on that basis.

While not specifically aimed at Community Centres, some such organisations were eligible where they were providing critical frontline services to the most vulnerable in their communities.

The Community Enhancement Programme (CEP)has provided a total of €7m for capital grants towards enhancing facilities available to communities. The funding was allocated to each local authority area and administered by Local Community Development Committees (LCDCs). Community halls and centres were eligible to apply for this funding.

My Department also recently launched a €1.7m COVID-19 Emergency Fund, which groups, including those involved with community halls and centres, can now apply for through their Local Community Development Committee (LCDC).

Town & Village Renewal Scheme - Accelerated Measure in response to COVID-19,

The Government’s July Stimulus Package allocated an extra €10m of funding to support towns and villages to adapt to COVID-19 under the 2020 Town and Village Renewal Scheme.This funding was in addition to €15m already ear-marked for the scheme for 2020. The scheme is placing a particular focus this year on immediate responses to the COVID-19 pandemic (Accelerated Measure) and medium-term interventions to assist rural towns and villages to recover from the impact of the virus (Standard Measure). The projects approved will assist businesses/communities in towns and villages to adapt to the specific challenges posed by COVID-19 (e.g. social distancing) and to increase footfall and generate economic activity in the short-term.

We were unable to collate the details by county in sufficient time for this PQ response however we will forward a list to the Deputy once complete.

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