Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the dormant account funding for this initiative. The families of drug addicts are often forgotten and there are insufficient supports for them. The reality is that the families are often left homeless because of drug addiction. I am pleased the Minister is already supporting various groups, but I hope he will extend that support. This is no longer merely an urban problem but is also an issue in rural areas. In other words, it is a nationwide problem. I hope the Minister will examine whether the next round of dormant account funding can be used for projects outside urban areas.

Will the Minister consult with the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment with a view to making a certain number of community employment places available for recovering drug addicts? Such persons need as much support as possible after treatment in order to re-enter employment and society in general. A certain quota of community employment places should be set aside for them. Places should be also set aside for them on the rural social scheme.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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When the Deputy sees the list, he will discover that funding was spread throughout the county and not confined to urban areas.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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We have not yet seen the list.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I accept that. However, when the Deputy does see it, he will discover that what I am saying is true.

Some 1,000 places are reserved for recovering drug addicts on community employment schemes. In addition, such individuals are also included in the community services programme. Subject to the necessary funding being available, I would like to examine the possibility of making further places available under the programme to recovering drug addicts. I agree with the Deputy that it is important that they should be catered for. However, any progress in this regard will be dependent on the necessary moneys being available.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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I would appreciate it if the Minister would also provide me with a copy of the list to which he refers.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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There is one for everyone in the House.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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I welcome the funding provided in this regard. Cuan Mhuire which is situated in my constituency and run by Sr. Consilio is a wonderful centre. I accept that some individuals who take part in treatment programmes have improved their standard of living, etc., but they still appear to be loners within their communities. Perhaps, as Deputy Ring suggested, places could be set aside for them on community employment and other schemes. It might be possible to operate a scheme in this regard in conjunction with the centres run by Sr. Consilio in Limerick, Cork, Down, etc. Will the Minister investigate whether organisations such as that run by Sr. Consilio might be able to provide job or training opportunities? This would be of major assistance to those who were unfortunate enough to become involved in drug misuse.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I concur with the Deputy. There is a need for joined-up thinking in order to ensure the different agencies work together. As stated, 1,000 places have been set aside for recovering drug addicts. These schemes have been incredibly important for people recovering from other forms of drug misuse such as alcohol misuse. We must ensure the most vulnerable in society obtain places on the schemes mentioned. One of the challenges to be faced by those who operate the schemes is that they may be tempted to pick the most able for them. I would be interested in hearing suggestions with regard to how we might ensure those who are most vulnerable obtain places, while also ensuring the schemes remain viable. The Deputy's question in this regard is very valid.

Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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The €1.5 million to which the Minister refers is welcome, but it is still only a small drop in the ocean when one considers the number of vulnerable people, particularly those who are homeless, in our society. There are a number of homeless agencies in the south-west inner city and I am aware that those who are homeless, because of the nature of their existence, are not able to access the relevant service. There is a reluctance among these individuals in becoming involved with projects or schemes. One of the entities which provide a great deal of assistance for homeless people and their families is the Merchant's Quay Project. I accept that the latter has major resources at its disposal, but encouraging the homeless to avail of services remains a problem.

I agree with Deputy Ring's comments on community employment projects. The Minister is aware of the Liberties Recycling Training and Development and how important it is to many of those who were forgotten by society and who need to be challenged in taking their lives in a different direction. The project is really just another way of considering how things can happen and is aimed at improving the lives of young people who have endured the misery of drug misuse and are now on methadone.

I reiterate that there is still a need to investigate how we might bring certain individuals, particularly the homeless, into the services available. Consideration must be given to this matter.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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When the Deputy sees the list to which I referred, she will be pleased to discover that Merchant's Quay Project Limited received two sums, €113,000 and €90,000, and Youth for Peace in Kildare received €37,700. I do not believe any money was allocated in County Mayo. I accept that these are small sums. However, I am a great believe that the ocean is full of drops and that if one provides enough of them, one will make a difference. One is often approached by groups and informed that small amounts of money which are very well targeted and in respect of which they have a great deal of discretion can have a significant effect. These groups also indicate that they sometimes find it difficult to obtain small amounts for tightly focused projects. The great thing about the dormant accounts fund is that those involved with allocating the moneys it contains are not engaged in run of the mill initiatives. The projects involved are one-off and would not be considered mainstream. We should consider the matter in that context.

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 33: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the number of persons, in respect of his Department and each of the State agencies or boards for which he has responsibility, who are working on temporary contracts; the number of such contracts that are due to expire by the end of 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23855/09]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department currently employs 14 people on temporary contracts. Three of these contracts are due to expire in 2009. Information furnished to me on temporary contracts in agencies-boards funded from my Department's Vote group is set out in the following table:

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Is the Minister in a position to provide information on cutbacks in the Leader programme? I received representations from people in County Donegal who are concerned that such cutbacks will affect their groups.

To what positions do the temporary contracts at Waterways Ireland relate? Are those involved canal-keepers or lock-keepers or are they more general employees?

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The Leader companies are independent. There has not been a cutback in the Leader programme which, in fact, has been expanded considerably. Money for the partnership programme has been reduced and perhaps it is to this that the Deputy refers. However, that matter is not really the subject of this question. It may also have come to his attention that it is my intention to transfer the functions of Meitheal Forbartha na Gaeltachta, MFG, to Údarás na Gaeltachta over time because I do not see the need for two community-based organisations to be operating in the Gaeltacht. As a result, I am of the view that it would be better to rationalise the position.

Due to the special status of the North-South bodies which are co-funded with the Northern Ireland authorities, the moratorium does not currently apply to them. I understand discussions are under way between the Department of Finance and the Department of Finance and Personnel in Northern Ireland on whether the moratorium should apply and other related personnel and resource issues such as finalising the 2009 budgets for the North-South bodies and the question of the application of an efficiency saving in Northern Ireland and the early retirement scheme announced by the Government.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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A number of the partnership and other groups which come within the remit of the Minister's Department and employ people on temporary contracts have expressed concerns. I am aware that the Minister recently met some of their representatives at his office in Connemara. Many are concerned because their contracts are due to finish in December and they do not know whether they will be renewed. Those in the voluntary sector want to know what will happen and what the Minister intends to do. I accept that there are budget constraints. However, it is almost July and the people to whom I refer should be informed before the summer holidays about what is going to happen. They should be made aware whether their contracts will be renewed in order that they might enjoy some degree of security.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Is the Deputy referring to those at MFG?

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Yes.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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In the first instance, the companies to which the Deputy refers are not the subject of the question. The second point I would make is that they are private companies and, therefore, it is their own business as to who they hire and fire, etc. As I informed Deputy O'Shea, it is intended that over time and as the various contracts for the programmes in which we are involved with them are terminated to transfer responsibility for the programmes to Údarás na Gaeltachta. The rural social scheme will be the first such programme to be transferred. I seem to remember Deputy Ring - and the House - being very much in favour of this rationalisation on the basis that both of us recognised having duplicate organisations in the one area is superfluous. We could mention a certain town in County Mayo that has a good many offices belonging to various agencies, all funded by my Department.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I agree with the Minister and perhaps he will tell the House what is happening.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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On the question of engagement from MFG, to have a preliminary discussion on this issue I asked the two chief executives involved to meet me, last November. I have tried, time and again, to get engagement from MFG and a process. It is inevitable that we have to make savings. MFG has lost opportunities and done no service to its workers because we could have progressed much further, acting in their interests, if there had been proper engagement by the senior management and the board earlier as regards what is an inevitable process.

I am appealing once again to MFG to engage constructively in the process so that we try to get the best information and make the best arrangements for the employees over time. I have also spelt out that the LEADER element which MFG runs has to go on until 2013 because it has a contract with us until then. We want to figure out how we can go forward and there are opportunities there if only it will engage. However, MFG is not engaging, and that is my problem.

Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Part of my question has been answered by the Minister. Is the Minister saying that, essentially, this will entail the slimming down and death of MFG, even if it lasts in some form until 2013? Will he eliminate MFG over time if he gets time to do it, which I doubt very much? I am aware that partnerships as such is a separate issue to some extent, but will there not be substantial losses of positions and across the whole community and voluntary group area? The Minister avoided that, somewhat, in replying to this question.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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In the wider scheme all I can do is work with the budget I have this year. None of us knows where we will be until the Estimates process is completed at the end of the year. We are living at a time when money is short and all of us have been told by the Opposition many times that we should do all in our power to reduce overheads. The Minister of State and I are trying to ensure that the bulk of the savings are made in administration. As the Deputy knows there has been a severe cut in Pobal, as well as in the partnerships. There were two cuts, one earlier in the year as well as a subsequent cut following the supplementary budget.

They are not disproportionate to the cuts across the system but they have been made and we must find out how the frontline service may best be delivered to the recipient, as efficiently as possible, while making our savings in the overheads. However, making savings in overheads includes people, and that cannot be avoided. We are being told all the time to cut down on public expenditure. As soon as we do so it affects somebody and we are then told not to do it again.

The Deputy is right regarding the position of MFG. Údarás na Gaeltachta is unique in that it is an elected authority for the Gaeltacht with a wide socio-economic and linguistic remit. It develops small and larger industries and so on. I cannot justify two similar bodies operating in the Gaeltacht with fairly similar remits. On that basis it is my intention to transfer the contracts MFG now has, as they come to termination, to Údarás. However, I want to do this in an ordered fashion and deal with the human resources issues in a sensitive and understanding manner. For that to happen I need MFG and Údarás, which has been very co-operative in this, to co-operate with my Department. I met the two boards - MFG and Údarás. When I met the board of MFG with the board of Údarás I found that there was joint membership of both boards in a number of cases. On that basis one would not have thought it should be difficult to get synergies between the two bodies - with four members on both boards as well as the fact that one of the Údarás employees is on the board of MFG. That effectively makes five with a type of common membership.