Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Catherine Byrne is correct. It is €650,000.

I am a little cautious about streamlining. It is the flexibility of the community service programme that makes it work well. There is flexibility in the services where numbers of groups come together but there is one overall manager. In this case, the CDETB has taken on the administration of it. The way this is managed varies across the country. Sometimes when one streamlines something, one loses the benefit. There is often one community group that manages it for five or six other groups, like the hub of a wheel. There is a flexibility within the service. The Department and the taxpayer pay for this; Pobal does not give the money. As I explained earlier, Pobal is the gatekeeper. It ensures that the criteria are met, and that the taxpayers' money is safeguarded and spent in the right manner.

There must be engagement from the CDETB. The letter that went out, which I saw myself, scared people on the ground. This is very much a process. There has been an extension to June, but the contract must be fulfilled. The contract is quite specific and it is safeguarding that service for local communities. The Department of Social Protection is paying out €650,000 on behalf of the citizen and the taxpayer over three years. We want to make sure that money is spent in the best interests of those communities. I will contact the CDETB and urge it to get the application in on time and to move things on. We are not trying to save any money here. We are quite happy that a good service can be supplied to the residents the Deputies represent and I will work with all the Deputies to try to ensure that service is maintained. However, the required level of openness and transparency must be met when these large sums of public money are being spent. I thank the Deputies for raising the issue and look forward to working with them on it.

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