Pobal
What is Pobal?
Pobal works on behalf of Government to support communities and local agencies toward achieving social inclusion and development.
The overall vision is to create an equal and inclusive society in partnership with Government and communities.
Pobal, formerly known as Area Development Management (ADM), was established in 1992 by the Irish Government in agreement with the European Commission to manage an EU Grant for local development.
The role of Pobal today is to provide management and support services to 39 programmes, schemes and services in the areas of Social Inclusion & Inclusive Employment, and Early Years & Young People. We administer these programmes on behalf of the Department of Rural and Community Development, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the Department of Social Protection, as well as the Department of Health/HSE, the Department of Justice, the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, the Department of Transport, and a number of EU bodies. Allocating €1,198 million (or €1.198 billion) in 2023.
We work in the areas of social inclusion, early childhood care and education, community development, peace and reconciliation, equality, labour market supports and education and training.
Some of the groups supported by Government through Pobal include the long term unemployed, young people, farmers / fishermen, children and families, Travellers, older people and ex-prisoners. We have formed alliances nationally and internationally including close working relationships with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
Our work ranges from programme design to implementation support to financial administration and governance of funding allocations. We promote quality enhancement amongst local community based groups, develop programme and system management tools and work to ensure funded projects work within agreed guidelines.
We also provide good practice case studies, evaluations, and demographic information that support Government Departments in making policy decisions. Tools such as Pobal Maps and the Pobal HP Deprivation Index are made freely available to allow policy makers and communities respond to needs identified by these sets of tools.
Pobal works on an all-island basis, with offices in Dublin, Monaghan, Sligo, Clifden, Letterkenny, Cork, Galway city, Limerick, Mullingar and Kilkenny, employing over 700 staff.