Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)

The points made by Deputies Ó Cuív and Stanton on the role of the Oireachtas in the distribution of public funds are important. I have said previously that we could be abolishing this country's quangos at a much faster rate. We need to dissolve many quangos quickly. We should restore to the Oireachtas the powers that were given to it when it was originally established, including the power to levy taxes and distribute funds. It is difficult to explain the role of an elected representative to people. Deputy Ó Cuív was right when he suggested that Deputies on all sides of the House approach Ministers of all parties to look for the best deals they can get for their constituencies. That is our prerogative and our entitlement. We are put in here to get the best possible deals for our constituencies. To that end, we approach those Ministers who have discretion over certain aspects of funding. When a Minister reports to the House by placing on the public record a memorandum of how he or she has distributed funds, he or she can be questioned on that at an Oireachtas committee or on the floor of the Dáil. When that accounting factor is removed from elected representatives, the role of the Oireachtas is diluted and, in a sense, some democracy is removed from the system. It is a way of taking a step away from those who have ultimate responsibility for the dispersal of public moneys - the Members of the Oireachtas.

The initiative being taken by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government in removing a layer of quangos from the system must be recognised as a good thing. Nobody wants to cast an aspersion on the previous board. Although I do not know the members of that board, I am sure they did a good job. Everyone who spoke before me acknowledged the role of the board. I suppose it would be unfair of me not to thank it for the role it played. It is important to bear in mind that this is just one Bill. It is unfortunate that legislation is required to abolish this board. It would be better if it could be done faster and more efficiently. Having said that, I hope the Bill before the House will be passed speedily.

I recently attended a meeting at which the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government demonstrated that a multiplicity of boards, project teams, groups, organisations and companies limited by guarantee are being funded by one agency or Department or another. It is really a spider's web. To be honest, we need to reduce the plethora of quangos much more quickly. Much more legislation needs to come before the House to abolish these quangos and restore the central role of the Houses of the Oireachtas, which is supposed to be responsible for these matters in the first instance. Deputy Ó Cuív was right to say that any decisions on the distribution of funding will ultimately rest with the Minister. I suggest that the Oireachtas committees have an enhanced role in this regard. There is a danger that the committees will become talking shops. Ministers are dismantling the layers of quangos and talking shops. I think they should take suggestions on board before they present their findings to the committees.

I have a personal interest in the RAPID programme, which was mentioned by Deputy Ó Cuív. Before the previous Government left office, it identified Rathkeale, County Limerick, as one of the towns that would benefit from the programme. Deputy Ó Cuív was right to point to the educational, social and cultural benefits of the RAPID programme in addressing disadvantage and helping people with disabilities. I will give the House an indication of the types of projects that were identified by the group that came together to promote the programme in Rathkeale. They identified that funding was required by the boxing club, the scouts, the community centre, the local GAA club, the youth café and the community crèche. Anybody who is familiar with the demographics of Rathkeale will know it is unique in the sense that a large percentage of its population are members of the Traveller community. They live cheek by jowl with the members of the settled community as they go about their daily lives. Since I was elected to this House, I have had many positive engagements with the community council and community representatives in Rathkeale. The common objective of people from both communities is the advancement of the town.

Deputy Ó Cuív was right when he said it is often much easier to collect money in rural areas than in disadvantaged urban areas. There was a false dawn in Rathkeale recently when a circular somehow managed to get out from the Department. It did not relate to Rathkeale alone. It suggested that towns with identified projects would be able to avail of a €100,000 grant. For some reason, that did not transpire. I would like to echo Deputy Ó Cuív's sentiments in one respect. When the next tranche of funding is made available, I ask the Minister to consider towns that are stuck in a logjam on the RAPID conveyor belt as they wait for funding to be approved. Rather than opening the programme to other plausible and worthy projects, the most recent set of projects that were identified and approved by the Department should be approved for funding in the first instance. In other words, that towns like Rathkeale and Ballina in County Mayo and other such places, would be the first towns to benefit from this funding. I am somewhat surprised that this source of funding is continuing. The Department and the individual banks will endeavour to identify the source of these dormant accounts but be that as it may, they are a welcome source of funding. I refer to the late Jim Mitchell, God be good to him, and the legacy of his report of the DIRT inquiry which resulted in this source of funding for legitimate projects which are tackling social or economic disadvantage or projects in the disability sector. The advantage of this funding is that it is outside mainstream departmental funding and it is helping projects which are worthy but for which there would not be mainstream funding available. In an ideal world these projects would be funded without question but we are constrained by economic problems and such projects are of necessity put on the back burner. Therefore, this source of funding is much appreciated but it needs to be channelled at a faster rate.

Previous speakers referred to the notion of matching funding. I have first-hand knowledge of rural communities in particular and there is no shortage of people prepared to put shoulders to the wheel when the call is made. If matching departmental, RAPID or dormant accounts funding is available, those communities will not be found wanting. In my constituency I can cite hundreds of examples of people who have sold raffle tickets and undertaken sponsored walks, for example, to make up the matching funding for projects.

It is no secret that in my constituency we are very fortunate to have somebody of the character of JP McManus who has done a tremendous amount of work for the voluntary and charity sector in County Limerick and further afield, but specifically in his own county of Limerick. We are fortunate to have a philanthropist of his stature prepared to lead very good projects which are desperately needed in communities across Limerick city and county and for which he deserves much credit. I wish to take this opportunity to thank him on behalf of everybody who has availed of a service in which he has been directly or indirectly involved. Philanthropy is regarded as a buzzword for corporate or banking institutions who are taking a new-found interest in their communities but in County Limerick, long before the word "philanthropy" came into the lexicon of Dáil Éireann or anywhere else, we had somebody of the calibre of JP McManus who was always there when the local community needed him and for this we can be very grateful.

I have written to the Department and I have discussed with the Minister, Deputy Hogan, the need for this funding to be used where it could make a real difference, which is in the town of Rathkeale. I may be labouring the point but I implore the Minister of State in the strongest terms to make the town a priority. There is no other town in the country that can compare to it in terms of its social fabric. Equally, there is no other town in the country that could compare to it in terms of the community spirit and community involvement and the get-up-and-go attitude of its people and the various groups who are busy, night after night, working with the young people, people on the margins of society, the elderly or those with a disability. Funding under the RAPID programme was announced by the previous Government but this announcement was revoked. The people need certainty and I implore the Minister of State to do something for them during the next 12 months.

It is projected that there will be a saving of €1.7 million following the abolition of the board and the transfer of powers to the Minister. This is a starting point and other Departments and Ministers need to start looking into their own filing cabinets and introducing legislation to abolish a few quangos. The country has a massive budget deficit and people are expecting to see more change but they are also expecting to see the Houses of the Oireachtas functioning for the purpose for which we are all elected, to be accountable for taxpayers' money. This Bill is one aspect of that responsibility. Every Department contains an agency with responsibility for spending public moneys but which is not accountable to the Houses of the Oireachtas, as a Minister would be. Such bodies are invariably asked to appear before the Committee of Public Accounts to explain what went wrong.

I welcome this Bill which allows for money to be used but there needs to be a greater level of involvement. I agree with Deputy Ó Cuív that it would be marvellous if these arrangements could be depoliticised. For example, there should be an opportunity for all Deputies, from all sides of the House, to bring forward their ideas in respect of their own constituencies or of particular projects or interests. This should not be confined to the dormant accounts. Former Ministers with responsibility for sport gave out State moneys like snuff at a wake and used it almost as a personal fund to ensure their party was re-elected into government. This left a sour taste in the mouths of many people. The day the line Minister with responsibility for expenditure gives the House an account of his decisions will be a day to be commended.

The dormant accounts fund is decreasing but a stream of money is still coming in so plans need to be in place constantly and those projects which have been stalled need to be given priority. I refer to the role of Pobal in this disbursement of funds. Pobal and the local authorities need to be involved in the process because if the board is dissolved, it is important to use these bodies to find out where this funding should be allocated. I refer to the role of the Oireachtas which is paramount. The presentation to a committee and, ultimately, to the House, of a report both before and after the allocation of funding is very important.

This is a good piece of legislation which will enhance the communities which it is designed to serve, those which are most disadvantaged. Once again I make a special plea for the town of Rathkeale in west Limerick which was promised funding on two occasions and unfortunately it has hit a road block in this regard. I implore the Minister of State to impress on the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, the importance of delivering to that town and the need to show that town, its community council, its local representatives and its people that the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, is behind it and that it acknowledges the work of organisations such as West Limerick Resources and Limerick County Council, in trying to bridge the difficulties. I ask the Department to acknowledge the work of the community in enhancing their locality and in building a social infrastructure which will benefit future generations. Everybody in Rathkeale would welcome this acknowledgement.

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