Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I had the opportunity to speak on this in the Dáil last week and I compliment the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, on helping to bring about the Stormont House Agreement.

The Community Relations Council made a presentation to the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and outlined its concerns about funding for different organisations and community groups. There is a lack of stability in knowing when it will have funding to continue certain programmes. The group appreciates the support it has received from the Irish Government but the lack of decision-making at the level of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister has provided some instability in regard to those groups continuing their very important work.

We had the opportunity to see, in loyalist areas in east Belfast and elsewhere, good facilities that were put in place through substantial financial support from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. A continuation of that is essential because there are many communities who are disaffected and who believe they have not been beneficiaries of the Good Friday Agreement, the St. Andrews Agreement and the progress that has been made on this island.

Am I correct in my interpretation that following the agreement reached at Stormont Castle, the Department paid €5 million to the International Fund for Ireland at the end of 2014? I presume that money is for work that will be undertaken this year. Some of the officials who are with the Minister would be very familiar with the workings of the International Fund for Ireland in the early 1990s. At that time it was very focused on providing facilities and supporting communities in the six Northern and six Southern Border counties to develop small enterprise units and so forth. The emphasis of the fund has now moved to people programmes. The programmes being introduced by the fund now, supported by the Irish and British Governments and other donors, have moved away from supporting communities and towards the development of facilities.