Brussels, 05/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - On 5 June, Anna Diamantopoulou signed a decision approving the new Community initiative programme EQUAL in Ireland for the 2001-2006 period. The entire Irish budget totals EUR 47 million, of which 33.9 million will be taken on by the European Social Fund (ESF), 11 million by the Irish public sector and 2.1 million from private sources.
The ESF budget will be broken down as follows: (1) European strategy for employment; - EUR 15.3 million: vocational integration; - 3.4 million entrepreneurship; - 6.8 million adaptability; - 4.1 million equal opportunities; (2) social and professional needs of asylum seekers: EUR 1.37 million; (3) technical assistance aiming to support the implementation and assessment of the programme results: EUR 2.7 million.