THOUSANDS OF women who plan to return to the labour market or who have been forced to cut short their education will benefit from a new €60 million women's equality initiative, it was announced yesterday.
Launching the five-year programme, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said the funds will provide training and educational programmes to allow women return to work, rebuild confidence or refresh their skills.
Under the scheme training providers, such as not for profit groups and statutory bodies, can apply for grant assistance to provide services to support women who are planning to enter the workforce.
He said a previous initiative had provided training opportunities or educational opportunities to a total of 41,000 women across the State.
Mr Ahern said the success of this had spurred the Government to double the funding for such projects to support women's development so they play an active role in all aspects of society.
"This is a very positive development which will give projects the capacity to build on their achievements and to offer their developmental programmes to many different groups of women over the life of the initiative," the Minister said.
Ireland has made significant strides in increasing the proportion of women in the workforce. This figure has doubled since 1995, with more than 1 million women at work.
As a result, the Government has already met an EU target of reaching 60 per cent female employment, three years ahead of target.
"We are very much aware that our female labour force is very well-educated," she said.
"It is important for economic growth and social well-being that we should capitalise on the availability of this pool of highly qualified women by encouraging women to return to, or remain in the labour market to advance upwards in their chosen careers," Mr Ahern said.
Groups interested in providing training have been invited to make applications to Pobal Ltd which will provide grant assistance to successful applicants.
He said officials will focus on funding applications for projects to be delivered over the next three years.
The department plans to carry out an extensive review of the successes of the first phase in late 2010 before deciding on the scope of future grants.
Full details of the initiative are available on the Department of Justice website, www.justice.ie, or the Pobal website, www.pobal.ie
