Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)

On funding, we all know what has happened and it is regrettable that the chief executive officer felt it necessary to resign over this issue. The one aspect we could examine is multi-year funding which might alleviate some of the concerns because it is very difficult for groups which are trying to operate on a yearly budget to plan and strategise. The Department might examine the possibility of providing multi-annual funding because at least people would then know what was coming down the line and plan accordingly. If it were possible to do this, we might be able to overcome some of the concerns raised.

See this speech in context