Written answers
Wednesday, 19 March 2025
Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Dormant Accounts Fund
Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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1437. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she can provide an update on the distribution of the Dormant Account Fund in her Department; the plans in place to support those projects and programmes currently funded by the dormant accounts when the funding finishes; if the funding does cease, whether Departmental existing levels of service funding will cover the projects; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12400/25]
Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The 2025 Dormant Account Action Plan was launched by Minister of State Joe O’ Brien on 4 November 2024.The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth received a total allocation of €5,946,794 under the 2025 Dormant Accounts Action Plan, to be distributed across 22 measures.
| Measure | Action Plan 2025 (€5.9m) |
|---|---|
| Theme: Youth and/or Family Initiatives | |
| What Works' Initiative | €1,217,000 |
| Making places for and with teenagers | €250,000 |
| Inclusivity officers X4 | €300,000 |
| Foróige - Digital Youth Work Programmes | €150,000 |
| Foróige - Connect Safely - Online Safety Programme | €145,000 |
| NYCI - Skills Summary Project | €100,000 |
| NYCI - Youth Sector Equality and Intercultural Programme | €67,514 |
| Theme: Care Support for Vulnerable in Society | |
| Aftercare Supports for Disadvantaged Care Leavers | €667,280 |
| Barnahus | €520,000 |
| Educational Champions for Children in Care | €300,000 |
| Theme: Traveller and/or Roma Community Initiatives | |
| Education Community Development Worker (ECDW) Scheme | €650,000 |
| Tusla national programme of work in partnership with traveller organisations | €395,000 |
| Roma Adult Education and Training Project | €300,000 |
| Mental Health and Mediation Services for the Traveller Community | €250,000 |
| Services for victims of domestic abuse in the Traveller Community | €90,000 |
| Tusla NTRIS Employment Support Scheme (The Tusla Scheme) | €60,000 |
| Gender inequality faced by minority women, including Traveller women | €50,000 |
| Theme: Babies and/or Young Children Initiatives | |
| Equal Start Monitoring and Evaluation Framework | €120,000 |
| Nurturing Skills, Pillar 4, Supporting recruitment, retention and diversity | €50,000 |
| Theme: Oberstown Detention Campus Training Initiatives | |
| Oberstown Bakery Training Programme | €105,000 |
| Education and Learning Platform for young people in Oberstown | €90,000 |
| Steps + Career Project | €70,000 |
| Total | € 5,946,794 |
Following the launch of the 2025 Action Plan, confirmation of allocations was released to all relevant organisations and agencies.
To date, payments totalling €1,162,100 have been processed by my Department from the 2025 Dormant Account Fund allocation, and are detailed further for the Deputy in the below table.
| Theme | Measure | Spend to Date |
|---|---|---|
| Youth and/or Family Initiatives | What Works; Early Years Therapeutic Pilot | €151,100 |
| Youth and/or Family Initiatives | What Works; Tusla Parenting | €36,000 |
| Youth and/or Family Initiatives | What Works; Parent Child Psychological Support | €45,000 |
| Care Support for Vulnerable in Society | Educational Champions for Children in Care | €300,000 |
| Traveller and/or Roma Community Initiatives | Educational and Employment support | €150,000 |
| Traveller and/or Roma Community Initiatives | Gender Inequality Issues for minority women, including Travellers | €25,000 |
| Traveller and/or Roma Community Initiatives | Tusla National Programme of work in partnership with Traveller Organisations | €395,000 |
| Traveller and/or Roma Community Initiatives | Tusla NTRIS Employment Support Scheme | €60,000 |
| Total | €1,162,100 |
As the Deputy will be aware, overall responsibility for the disbursement of funds from the Dormant Accounts Fund rests with the Minister for Rural and Community Development.
Any measures that have been approved under the 2025 Action Plan are expected to progress in 2025.
Where a project or programme requires ongoing funding, applications can then be made to the subsequent Dormant Account Fund, as per the usual application process.
Alternatively, and where appropriate, exchequer funding can be applied for through the Estimates process as part of the Budget negotiations.
It should also be noted that the Dormant Account Fund Disbursement Scheme allows for allocations to be disbursed from the fund over multi-year period for measures approved in an annual action plan that will progress over a number of years; however, none of the measures related to my Department under the 2025 Action Plan are multi-year programmes or projects.
As the Deputy will be aware, the legislation governing the Dormant Accounts Fund sets out how money is to be disbursed from the fund to Departments.
Measures approved for funding in any Action Plan must, in the first instance, be funded from the Vote of the Department or agency concerned.
The expenditure incurred in implementing an approved measure is then reimbursed from the Dormant Accounts Fund, rendering the measure Exchequer neutral.
As the relevant funding was secured by my Department under Budget 2025, all approved measures will be funded in full under the 2025 Action Plan. It is also important to note that the funding allocations provided for in the Action Plan are maximum allocations, and instances may occur whereby the cost of the measure proves to be less than the maximum allocation, for example:
As such, administrative procedures have been put in place to manage instances where the cost of the measure proves to be less than the maximum allocation.Where expenditure incurred for any programme or scheme is less than the approved maximum allocation, the excess is to be decommitted and returned to the Dormant Accounts Fund to enable the funding of other schemes.In this regard, in 2024, the Department of Rural and Community Development (DRCD) requested that each department responsible for Dormant Account Funding decommit all legacy measures and balances to allow for additional funding to be made available for new projects which request funding in 2025 and beyond. Similarly, if schemes do not progress at all, the allocation will be decommitted when this becomes apparent, as per the Dormant Account Funding guidelines. As with all projects and programmes funded by my Department, the management and control of spending across the Vote is of the upmost importance.Spending and spending trends are monitored closely within the Department in relation to their Dormant Account Funding allocations, to ensure that measures are administered in line with Government accounting procedures including the Public Spending Code.(i) because the measure has been completed for less than the maximum approved amount,
(ii) the measure has not progressed as planned due to unforeseen circumstances, or
(iii) it has been superseded by other measures or programmes.
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