Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

No, what I stated earlier was that, of the allocations made to date by the board, €48 million has not yet been drawn down. A sum of €8 million is the only amount that has been drawn down. As Deputy O'Shea will be aware, ADM Limited administers all this for the disbursements board. Of the €63 million that was allocated, to date €8 million has been drawn down. It is a case of working out the legal agreements etc. However, one would expect that the figure drawn down would be increased significantly, and most of that will be disbursed next year. All the money is provided and allocated. While there is €205 million in the fund at present, deducting the liabilities of €48 million leaves €157 million.

There is no stalling. Matters have proceeded rapidly since the new legislation came into place. The consultation process — I was on one of the committees — involves representatives from approximately six Departments. There have been at least four or five meetings of that cross-departmental group. The only elected representatives at those meetings were the Minister and me. The rest of the participants were officials.

The committee on social and economic disadvantage has completed its work and sent its report to Cabinet. It is hoped that the other two committees — I am not on either of them — on disability and educational disadvantage, will complete their reports and send them to Cabinet fairly soon. Then matters will progress quickly in the new year.

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