Mr. Jerry Murphy:

The Chairman asked a specific question about the CSP and its entry points. There have been no such opportunities in recent years because there has been no money, but an additional budget was identified by the Department during 2017. The process is ongoing. Thirty-three applications have reached the final stage and the Department is making a final decision. My understanding is that announcements will be made on new entries in February. There is no new set of money to follow that up of which we are aware, but we hope that the new entries will bring new thoughts, ideas and blood to the programme.

A number of men's sheds are funded through programmes that are ultimately administered by Pobal. That it has taken off as a national movement is amazing, as are the supports it offers. I will focus on the local issue, though, as it may be something that we have not got across enough at this meeting even though it is an important part of our ethos. Of the moneys that Pobal is involved in designing schemes around or overseeing, a large amount ends up within local umbrella structures that make allocations to groups like men's sheds. The social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, was referenced as an example. On average, each local community development committee is allocated approximately €1 million. All of the roll-outs are handled through local development companies. While we work with the Department to set the national structure, targets and planning processes and set up the ICT element, decisions are made locally about which groups they want to work with. A significant number are deciding that they want to work with groups like men's sheds.