The Funds Administration Unit is located in the International Protection and Equality division of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. The Funds Administration Unit consists of two teams. The National Funding Team and the EU Funds Team.
The National Funding Team provides a centralised operational and governance resource for the implementation of the Department’s policy of an Equal and Inclusive Society by funding NGO and community organisations. The team ensures that the objectives of the funded projects are closely aligned to the applicable policies and strategies developed by the Department’s policies units.
The team ensures that Grant Agreements and Service level Agreements are in place for each funded project and that appropriate Governance Compliance and Reporting frameworks are in place. The team ensures that the all payments are made in a timely and accurate manner and that appropriate monitoring and evaluation processes are in place.
The EU Funds Team provide a centralised operational and governance resource where EU Funds are used to support implementation of the Department’s policies in the areas of migrant asylum and integration and also in the area of gender equality. The team ensures that the objectives of funded projects, most of whom are NGOs are closely aligned to the applicable policies strategies developed by the Department’s policies units.
The team ensures that Grant Agreements and Service level Agreements are in place for each funded project and that appropriate Governance Compliance and Reporting frameworks are in place. The team ensures that the all payments are made in a timely and accurate manner and that appropriate monitoring and evaluation processes are in place. There are additional checks and activities required as a consequence of the governance and oversight requirements surrounding the utilisation of EU funds. These include additional desktop and on the spot checks, preparation of data to be submitted to the EU Commission, preparation of claims for recoupment of funds and annual reporting requirements.
This team is also the Responsible Authority (or Managing Authority) for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) in Ireland and has additional responsibilities in this regard.
The Funds Administration Unit currently provides assistance in the following business areas relating to the management of grants relating to National and EU Funding programmes:
- Inclusion
- Equality (Traveller and Roma initiatives)
- Gender Equality
- Integration Service Delivery
- Migrant Integration
- LGBTI+