Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

There is a nominal figure put in for some of these subheads that are coming to the end of their natural life. The subheads are kept in the Estimates process for a while because if they are closed, they cannot be paid. Therefore, these small nominal amounts are put in for technical financial reasons until it is quite clear that the subhead is defunct. No activity is envisaged for the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation, which is under subhead J. There is also a nominal amount for the commission of investigation in case it is required, but there is no plan that it would be required. It will fall off the list in a year or two.

The procedure for commemorations is that a certain amount of money is put in under the Estimates and the Department tries to get approval for it. Then it is open to organisations that are having commemorative events every year. They are usually very well organised, like the flight of the earls group, which ran activities throughout many parts of the country, culminating in a function in Dublin Castle back in November. Groups submit their plans in order to obtain resources under the subhead, so it is not based on what the Government is commemorating. It is just used to assist organisations that are also involved in fundraising to obtain resources. There are not many new commemorations this year. There is a stamp commemoration which takes anniversaries of historical occasions into account, but that is separate and is carried out by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.

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