Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Perhaps Deputy Kelleher's point was that COPE Foundation, for example, has in its service level agreement taken a reduction and yet the issue of pay, that proportion of the funding allocated, cannot be touched because the Haddington Road agreement protected certain funding. My argument to the Minister has always been that organisations, such as COPE Foundation, which have lived by the service level agreement, should not be penalised in the way others who go over their budgets are. There is funding allocated for staffing only that comes in the lump sum these organisations get that cannot be touched, yet at the same time there is an element of the funding that is touched which has implications for the delivery of services. I fully agree with the Minister in terms of shared services and reducing the cost of services, but in my opinion, many organisations, such as COPE Foundation, which are compliant and which work within the system, are being unfairly penalised. Perhaps that is the point Deputy Kelleher is trying to make.