Ms Orlaigh Quinn:

I apologise for the lateness of the proposal coming to this committee. I acknowledge that it leaves the members little time to consider it. The explanation is that this proposal was with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine as it was a CAP programme and there was various discussions at official level as to the most appropriate place to operate this type of funding. The ongoing work for the Irish Presidency has been top heavy in terms of the work programmes for Departments. I again apologise for the delay in bringing this to the attention of the joint committee.

It is not possible to say at this time how much will be available in overall funding. I think it will be less than the €2 million to which Deputy Ó Snodaigh referred. The total of €2.5 billion is part of the multifinancial framework that is currently being negotiated and will be paid over a seven-year period. In the overarching negotiations for the EU, this programme could be smaller, depending on what happens. It is a small amount of money, but given the way it could be used in a targeted way to focus on the homeless or people who are very detached from the labour market, it could be beneficial if it was targeted at a small number of people.

I take the point made by the Deputy on our ability to influence the proposals. Having said that, it is very important for Ireland that in our role as President we take a neutral stance. This covers every single item of EU business for the next six months, Ireland will not be taking a national position.