Ms Sheenagh Rooney:

One of the issues with the fund that is important to bear in mind is that there is a requirement on lead applicants to have collaboration as part of their projects. Even if a local authority is the lead applicant, one will often find beneath its application support from a State agency, community group or matched philanthropic funding. From the first two calls, we have seen real evidence of that collaboration. This is notwithstanding the fact that the Deputy is right, in that the lead applicant in the majority of successful applications is a local authority. However, LEADER companies and State agencies have also been successful. We want to see a spread of collaboration and different bodies applying to the fund. We are satisfied that this is provided for and will grow over time. We have detailed tables based on the information from the first two calls and can provide them to the committee.