Mr. Michael Culbert:

I thank Senator Feighan. By the way I was speaking to Mr. Seán Kelly, he was asking how the Senator was keeping. The Department of Foreign Affairs has been generous to us in the past to a limited degree. I cannot object to that. It was for a limited piece of work, so they have been there. That is my comment on that. I appreciate what Senator Feighan has said about approaching them and if he wants to, that would be a good idea.

On the European situation, I wanted to clarify what Mr. Mulgrew said earlier. Much depends on one's narrative of what happened and why it happened etc. The context is vital. Our problem is that we have identified the European funding streams, to which of course the southern Government contributes. It is just no longer peace-orientated. The emphasis is on the narrative that what was going on in the north of Ireland for 30 years was a Catholic-Protestant thing. Well, that is not a republican narrative. Therefore it is very difficult for us to formulate activities on behalf of our particular community when the funding streams are directed into interactions between Catholics and Protestants solely.

It is a very difficult situation because we do not want to lie to funders. We are very restricted in it. Mr. Mulgrew has outlined the situation. Europe is generous. It does give money; our problem is what it gives the money for. It gives the money for a particular narrative on our conflict. Quite simply, we find it difficult to get people to do what the European funding is for. We need to work with our people to build up capacity in order for them in some way to do the stuff that the European Union wants done. That is my clarification of it. I do not want it to sound too complicated or begrudging. It is great for funding to go in for services. However, our people need counselling, family support, training and re-training. Those are the type of things people need to gain meaningful employment.