Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

That can be done. The Senator should wait for the rest of my speech. In view of these administrative issues, it was apparent that two possible routes could be followed. One was to establish an independent agency with a large staff, chief executive officer, offices, etc, to administer the fund and the other was to use the existing mechanisms of State and accounting procedures, including Accounting Officers of different Departments, to ensure strict criteria for the application process, transparency and the evaluation of projects.

The first approach would have led to an inordinate amount of the funds being dissipated on administration. Implicit in the second route, using existing agencies, was the requirement that Departments or their agencies would make proposals regarding disbursement of the funds.