Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important Bill, which comes at a time when many of the beneficiaries of the Dormant Accounts Fund are worried about further cuts being imposed by the Government in the forthcoming budget. Unlike the previous Government and the current Government, Sinn Féin values the community and voluntary sector. This sector is worth €6.5 billion to the Irish economy, employing up to 50,000 people. I take the opportunity to acknowledge the ongoing work being carried out by the community sector. This sector provides the services which the State and private sectors are unwilling or unable to provide because of the nature of those services. One of the cornerstones of the sector's success is its independence. This has come under sustained attack particularly by the former Government when it closed down a number of active community development projects. We view any attempt to undermine the sector's independence with suspicion.

In recent years community-based projects have been the victims of an unfair proportion of funding cuts. Of course many in this House would say that happened under the previous Government and now things are different. However, the evidence so far has clearly indicated that little or nothing has changed. The faces in the Cabinet meetings are different but the policies being pursued are the same. This was borne out by the recent 5% cut in funding to projects funded by the HSE.

The aim of the Bill is to provide for the dissolution of the Dormant Accounts Board and the transfer of its statutory functions to the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. If the Government has learned anything from the recent referendum defeat it should be that the public simply do not trust politicians with some decisions. Whether we like it or not to propose moving any decision-making powers from such a body back into the Minister's office will be received with a healthy and justifiable amount of cynicism.

Dormant accounts have provided the community sector with much-needed revenue at no cost to the State. Organisations from Donegal to Kerry and from Dublin to Galway have received funding for more than 4,000 projects. The projects have included community-based drug projects; intercultural groups; education groups; security groups to help the elderly; and groups tackling homelessness. It must be remembered that this money was essentially private funding.

Moneys, untouched in bank accounts, building societies, An Post accounts, intestate estates and life assurance policies all went to provide the funding. It was an imaginative approach to providing funding for the community groups. The dormant accounts funded projects tackling marginalisation and providing a voice to those who would otherwise have been silenced during the Celtic tiger years. Now more than ever we must ensure that these projects are resourced and strengthened, and the voices of these groups are heard. To simply slice away these services in the name of cost-cutting measures is totally unacceptable. At times of recession we must redouble our efforts to defend these projects and services.

This Bill arises from the recommendations of the McCarthy report which in July 2009 recommended shutting down the Dormant Accounts Board. Dr. Colm McCarthy estimated at the time that it would save €1.7 million, a figure that was plucked out of the air and was grossly inflated. Last week a briefing from the Chief Whip's office indicated that the saving would be a reduced €120,000. Sinn Féin fully understands that savings need to be made and we need to get better value for money, but at least the Government should get the figures right when proposing these savings.

One of the positive aspects of the Dormant Accounts Fund when it was established in 2001 was that the then disbursement board was independent of Government. The board had the power to prepare a distribution plan and direct the National Treasury Management Agency to make funding allocations. However, this power was greatly limited in 2005 with the establishment of the current Dormant Accounts Board. The Irish Current Law Statutes Annotated stated that the central thrust of the 2005 Act was to transfer power away from the independent board to the Government. The Bill further erodes the independence of the Dormant Accounts Fund.

Sinn Féin has a number of concerns with the Bill. First, it greatly erodes the independence of the channel of funding. Second, in moving the funding into the Department the Dormant Accounts Fund becomes a slush fund for the Government. The new guidelines state that the Minister must have regard for the policies or priorities of Government and the cost effectiveness of the funding proposals. This is very worrying as many in the community sector would by their very nature question the causes of marginalisation and Government policies that may contribute to that marginalisation.

We need a guarantee that the moneys in the Dormant Accounts Fund are ring-fenced and are not used to supplement Government spending. We propose that the oversight and evaluation role must be kept independent of Government. This role should be kept at arm's length from any Minster. Sinn Féin also wants legislation introduced to ring-fence money acquired by Criminal Assets Bureau. CAB money should no longer be used to supplement the Department of Finance's spending. It should be used to fund the communities most at risk of the drugs crisis. CAB money should not be used to supplement current funding but it should be used to strengthen the battle against the causes and consequences of the drug crisis.

The Criminal Assets Bureau operates under the following areas: social welfare provisions; revenue legislation; and the Proceeds of Crime Acts 1996 to 2005. The area of concern to the community sector is money collected under the provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Act. Between 2005 and 2009, some €13 million was handed over to the Department of Finance under the Act. In 2010, some €3,114,000 was collected under the Proceeds of Crime Act, under 15 cases. It is of immediate importance that this money is channelled back into the communities from where it was robbed by drug dealers and criminal gangs. It would go a long way to rebuilding and reclaiming those communities which have been abandoned by successive Governments.

The proposed disbursement of the Dormant Accounts Fund is too simplistic. While the purpose of the funding outlined in section 41 remains the same, the proposed means of distributing that funding is regressive. Under section 42(3) the Minster is to have regard to "the policies and priorities of the Government in so far as those policies 5 and priorities may affect or relate to the types of assistance contemplated by section 41". The distributions of funding should remain separate from and independent of the Minster.

Under section 8 of the Bill a distribution scheme must be approved by the Government and brought before the Oireachtas. However, neither the Seanad nor the Dáil has the power to amend or change the distribution scheme. The only power the Houses have is to annul the scheme. There is no provision in the Bill for Oireachtas amendment. In other words there can be no real debate on the scheme. It is very much a take it or leave it approach. It is a blunt and crude instrument for doing business. When it came to power, the Government promised a more open approach to allow the Opposition to make an input.

The major shortcomings of the Bill are as follows: It has no independent, critical appraiser of Government decisions; the funding mechanism is not independent of the Minister's office; the funding being administered directly by the Department will have a negative impact on community empowerment; there is no commitment to ring-fencing the funding of community projects; and there is fear that funding might be subsumed into the Department's expenditure. The Government will ask us for alternatives. One of the proposals in Sinn Féin's pre-budget submission is that the allowances and the costs of boards be reduced. The cost of this board as reported by the Whip's office is €120,000 and it can be reduced by 25%.

We are proposing a 25% reduction in costs and allowances. We also suggest that an Oireachtas committee be given a role in the administration of this fund or in assisting the Minister in doing so in a fair and impartial manner. It is hoped these constructive points will be taken on board by the Minister.

See this speech in context