Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for attending. I appreciate that as soon as I called him on receipt of the letter from the City of Dublin Education and Training Board, CDETB, he acted promptly. It is the least I can expect from a Labour Party Minister. I do not know what exactly are the issues between Pobal, DCC and CDETB, but I have a copy of a reassuring letter which was sent to both sports centres. Will the Minister of State give a guarantee, notwithstanding the fact that there are three months for negotiations among the three bodies, that the community services available on Clogher Road and in Inchicore will be retained with the same opening times and availability for the community as heretofore?

The first I heard about this was when I attended a drugs task force meeting in St. Andrews Hall last week and somebody said Pobal had pulled the funding for the centres. I replied that Pobal is only an agent for European funding or governmental funding. Where does the funding come from? Is this money from the European Social Fund, which finds its way into the system where Pobal intervenes? What is the difficulty being experienced? Public meetings have been demanded. I have received text messages from roller skaters who are worried that they will be unable to roller skate any more, while other community groups are being called to meetings by councillors from DCC. I would like the Minister of State to verbally back up the commitment I have received in writing that this is not a funding cutback and that the funds are available, but there is a complication between the three bodies. He might put our collective minds at rest in order that we can tell people not to bother going to public meetings to shout and roar, because they will be shouting and roaring about the wrong issue.

See this speech in context