Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for the their presentations. I openly admit that I am not an expert in this area in any way, shape or form, so I found the presentations really interesting and informative. The thing that stands out from a Deputy's work is that expertise in funding applications. The sports capital programme is a great example. A number of clubs will come in and they just have not filled out the form properly or they have left ten or 15 marks behind them that they could easily have got through. This also applies to the EU funding level, where things seem so distant and labyrinthine.

The first question is for both groups and then I have a few more specific questions. On the business of supporting grant applications for a community group that walks through the doors of the organisations present, what does that look like in terms of the accessibility? The most successful community groups tend to have somebody behind them who is very good at filling out grant applications, but there are a lot of community groups out there that do not have that level of expertise and for them that whole process seems very daunting and intimidating. From that first decision by a community group to come to the organisations present for their expertise in applying for grants, what does that process look like?