Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 16:

In page 14, lines 28 to 30, to delete all words from and including "or" in line 28 down to and including "section" in line 30 and substitute the following:

", advisers or other service providers engaged for any purpose relating to applications for disbursements under this Part".

This is essentially a technical amendment the purpose of which is to modify slightly an amendment I introduced on Committee Stage. The effect of this amendment is to provide that all appropriate expenses incurred by Departments through the engagement of service providers to process and assess applications will be met from the dormant accounts fund. The amendment I introduced on Committee Stage provided that the costs incurred by public bodies of engaging service providers to carry out assessment work on applications would be recoverable from the fund. I have since been advised that the wording of the Committee Stage amendment could be interpreted in a narrow way and might not provide that all appropriate costs would be included in the event that it is decided to engage service providers to assist at various stages of the process.

This amendment ensures the appropriate costs incurred in the assessment of applications, such as inviting, receiving, assessing and notifying, are included. Deputies are aware the existing board engaged Area Development Management Limited as a service provider to administer the initial round of funding on its behalf. The board reimburses Area Development Management Limited with all relevant costs incurred in carrying out this work. Under the new arrangements, similar provisions may apply, with Departments engaging service providers to assist in the process of receiving and assessing applications for funding. For this reason, I am advised this amendment is necessary to provide the required flexibility.

I will put this in simple terms to avoid the legalese. Under the current arrangement, the board has engaged Area Development Management Limited and the latter's expenses are recuperable from the fund. The new arrangement means any expenses incurred by Departments will come out of their administrative budgets. In the event of a Department engaging a service provider such as Area Development Management Limited to do work on its behalf, however, the money would be recuperable from the fund. This effectively restores the status quo. The Committee Stage amendment was deemed not to cover notifications and other parts of the process. This technical amendment rectifies that and I ask Members to agree to it.

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