Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

839. To ask the Minister for Health the amount of Healthy Ireland funding allocated to local authorities; the level of oversight by his Department to ensure associated infrastructure was provided; the amount of funding that was carried forward from these years that was unspent; if funds were returned by local authorities in each of the years 2018 to 2020 and to date in 2021, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5754/21]

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Pobal administers the Healthy Ireland Fund (HIF) on behalf of the Department of Health. HIF Round 1 ran from 2017-2018; Round 2 from 2018-2019 and Round 3 (current round) runs from 1^stJuly 2019 to 31^stDecember 2021.

The Fund is currently structured on the basis of supporting national and local organisations and to deliver actions aligned to the Government’s Healthy Ireland Framework via two specific strands: Strand 1 (local organisations) & Strand 2 (national organisations).

- Strand 1 provides funding to local authority led Local Community Development Committees (LCDCs) and Túsla Children and Young People Service Committees (CYPSCs).

- Strand 2 provides funding to a small number of national organisations to support larger scale nationwide programmes (Age Friendly Ireland, Local Government Management Agency and Mayo Education Centre).

This currently involves providing funding under the Healthy Ireland Fund (Round 3) to 53 grantees.

The amount of funding allocated to each Local Authority in each Round of Healthy Ireland so far – Round 1 September 2012 – June 2018 €3,516,253; Round 2 July 2018 –June 2019 €3,093,033; Round 3 July 2019 – December 2020 €7,136,850. Total HIF funding to Local authorities to date has been €13,746,136.

In Round 1, €3,205,429.35 was expended and €310,823.65 returned by Local Authorities.  In Round 2, €2,742,067.20 was expended and €175,988.87 was returned by Local Authorities.  As HIF Round 3 is currently ongoing, all funding for the programme is still available to the groups so there are no amounts returned at this point under Round 3.

Please note that Healthy Ireland doesn’t currently allow any funding to be carried forward from one Round to the next. As a result, any unspent funds or ineligible spend amounts must be returned to Pobal before the Local Authority can receive the bulk of their funding under the next Round. The Healthy Ireland Fund rounds do not run in line with the calendar year so it is not possible to separate the closed rounds into 2017, 2018 and 2019 as they run mid-year to mid-year.

HIF is mainly focused on the delivery of education, awareness raising and community development initiatives linked to the promotion of health and wellbeing.  HIF does not fund any large-scale infrastructure projects. However, small scale capital works are permitted where it can be demonstrated that the capital works e.g., small-scale refurbishment, building work, pathway development etc. is essential for the delivery of the action. Under HIF Round 3, these costs cannot exceed €7,500 per action.

From an oversight perspective, all HIF Grantees are required to report on progress and spend every 6 months against agreed actions, including any small-scale capital works.  This information is reviewed by Pobal staff and follow-up is conducted where necessary, including site visits where needed to verify progress. In addition, Pobal carries out audits of a sample of HIF Grantees to verify spend.