Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

——and to ensure that there is maximum transparency of disbursements, the Government's view was that the objectives of disbursements should remain unchanged, that we would make decisions on disbursements and that the Government would have an involvement in that.

One of the main reasons for that was that an applicant or organisation could apply under half a dozen different categories under half a dozen different Votes, if there was not any way of bringing them together. One would not be able to do that transparently.

The board will still evaluate the applications and it will still act in an advisory capacity. To do that requires legislation and the legislation will come before the House.

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