Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I do not know why funding was withdrawn, to be quite frank. As I said earlier to Deputy Boyle, there is no relationship between who is involved in the pillars and the Departments which provide grants. My Department makes no effort to stop funding. In fact, we continue to operate alongside organisations which pulled out and did not agree to Sustaining Progress in other fora and committees. The Minister, Deputy Ó Cuív, and the Minister of State, Deputy Noel Ahern, have been reviewing community grants in many areas but the amount of money is increasing, not decreasing. I do not know why the Community Workers Co-operative did not get grants.

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