Press Release                                                                 5th November 2009

Minister Curran Announces Grant of €250,000 for Dublin City Council

The  Minister  for Integration, Mr. John Curran TD, today announced that he
had  approved  funding  of  €250,000  for  Dublin City Council to implement
measures to promote the integration of immigrants in Irish life. This grant
is part of a funding line for local authorities with significant numbers of
foreign  nationals.  Last  year,  €250,000  was  also  provided to the City
Council for this purpose.

Dublin  City  Council administers the local authority area with the largest
number  of  foreign nationals in the State.  In the 2006 Census, there were
73,989,  such  persons  in  the  City  amounting  to 15% of the population.
Despite  the  advent  of  the  recession since the Census date, there is no
reason  to think that the proportion of the population of Dublin City which
is not Irish has declined.

Speaking  about  the  funding allocation the Minister said "I am pleased to
say  that  Dublin  City  Council  has  been  proactive  in  its response to
integration  and  has  put  in  place  innovative measures to recognize the
significant  change in Dublin life. The establishment of a dedicated Office
for  Integration,  the  Declaration  on Integration by leaders of state and
city  organisations establishing a pact on integration at city level not to
mention  the  Council's  ongoing commitment to initiating  and facilitating
dialogue  and  co-operation   at city and local level with migrant networks
and  NGOs  clearly demonstrates the Dublin City Councils commitment to face
the challenge the of integration and get it right. "

The  measures  which will be financed from this grant include the expansion
of  the  Tell  Me  More  language  programme;  the  Libraries Intercultural
Programme;  a  digital  storytelling  and  multi  media  project; an Ethnic
Entrepreneurship   Programme;   an  Anti  Racism  Discrimination  Transport
Campaign; a Dublin City Sports Integration initiative; integration dialogue
forums;  developing  monitoring mechanisms and indicators on integration at
city level; and grants to local groups carrying out integration measures.

Minister  Curran  concluded  by  saying  that  he  would  shortly  make  an
announcement in relation to other such local authorities.