Support groups get cash boost

ALMOST a quarter of a million euro is to be paid out to support groups for the unemployed, Social and Family Affairs Minister Seamus Brennan said yesterday.

Mr Brennan announced that €80,000 had been awarded to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and €160,000 to the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed.

The grants will go towards the cost of running 32 ICTU support centres, which provide advice, training and information on welfare rights.