Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

Funding is secure for this year. I anticipate that next year funding will be provided either from the dormant accounts fund or by the Department. I cannot say what the position will be further into the future.

This is a very good project. The fact the Department took it over is proof of that. I am not sure whether the Deputy has done it justice because some items he mentioned might be on a different tangent. The Deputy is correct about its history, that it was under the Department of Social and Family Affairs and then the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform as a child care project. It has come to the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs as a community development project. For the Deputy to zone in on the child care aspect of it is not music to the ears of my Department. The reason it was moved from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is that it no longer met the necessary criteria. It now covers not only children but adults and community development. That is why my Department is involved. It is a good project but it has outgrown the existing funding schemes. It is now viewed, from a long-term perspective, as community development and that is how it is being funded. Its effectiveness must also be examined in terms of continuing resources. It is a good project. The issue is to find the right home for it. If it fits the criteria of community development, the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs will be happy to look after it. However, the difficulty is that as such projects grow, they do not remain within the criteria set out by different Departments. That is why it was moved from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

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