Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

It does not suit the political times of the party opposite which wants to take this money and decide where it goes. It will go to marginal constituencies in advance of the next general election, of that there is no doubt. Every Member of this House knows that the appalling abuse of public funds by Fianna Fáil in advance of the last general election was the worst example ever of how public funds were used only for political purposes. The criteria were marginal seats, based solely on giving funds to constituencies where there was a marginal Fianna Fáil seat or the possibility of a gain. That is the reality in the schools building programme and lotto dispersal and so it is true of the funds that will shortly become available under the dormant funds accounts. This is utterly regrettable given that the original proposal on this was a cross-party one.

When the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996 went through these Houses I argued here that we had an obligation to ring-fence moneys proceeding from crime for the communities worst affected by the scourge of crime and drugs. I regret that the Government to which I gave allegiance at the time did not do that but I believe there is an obligation on us to ring-fence any money that becomes available for these communities because we have a long way to go to make up funding to them for educational and social projects. Those communities have a long way to travel. I recently saw in my own constituency a drugs prevention group which has existed for the past ten years on very small sums of money. Now, after its ten-year review, it is asking for funding to come from the Government so that it can decide what it needs in its community. These are the people who make life and death decisions. The Government's recent decision on this fund smacks of the worst kind of political opportunism such as only the party opposite can devise.

Before the last election we heard major announcements on RAPID but since then the funding has not been very rapid. There was a large cutback in the funding that should have been given to some of those communities and, in other cases, there has been a reversal of the very notion that those funds would be front-loaded to allow people to get on with their projects. This is an example of how money going into those communities could make a significant difference. When this legislation comes before the House after the local elections, we will fight it tooth and nail. It reverses the promises made following the first report of the Committee of Public Accounts, what the Minister for Finance told the House three years ago and this Government's commitments to the most disadvantaged and marginalised communities.