Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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1053. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if funding (details supplied) that has been allocated has been drawn down and spent; if there has been a follow-up or appraisal of the funding given under the various programmes or headings; if any of the allocated funding has been recouped or unspent; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20402/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Department provided funding to Mayo County Council in respect of the urban school meals scheme and Community Employment.  The urban school meals scheme is for primary schools only.  It is operated and administered by the local authorities and is part-financed by this department.

The Department of Social Protection keeps all aspects of its employment and activation programmes under review to ensure that they have the best outcomes for participants.  Community Employment(CE) sponsor organisations receive funding for the employment of both CE participants and CE supervisors.  Funding is also provided towards training and material costs.  The materials grant funded by the Department is a contribution towards the running costs of the scheme.  The Department provided additional materials funding of €2 million in Budget 2019 and this additional provision was allocated to the projects that identified a requirement for additional materials funding.

Also, as part of Budget 2020, additional funding of €2 million was made available for CE training purposes.  The funding model for CE is such that an advance payment of about 15% of total funding is provided in advance of the annual CE project year.  All funding thereafter is on the basis of vouched expenditure and the advance payment is recovered gradually over the project.  The funding model does not provide for CE sponsor organisations to hold on to unspent balances.

The following table outlines payments made to Mayo County Council since 2017.  Please note the 2021 and 2022 figures are subject to audit.