Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Certainly. As it is the reason I stood for election, I defend my right as a politician to create coherence in the way the State moves forward.

The other issue is the ownership of the money. If we knew in detail who owned the money, those owners could claim it back. That would be their preference. The problem is that nobody knows who owns this money. It was placed in a special fund and is akin to taxpayers' money. Elected Members on all sides handle public money in trust. It is not our money. The money in the dormant accounts fund is not as different from taxpayers' money as some have claimed because the State underwrites all of it with a 100% guarantee. In the unlikely event that everyone whose money is in the fund claims the entire €200 million, the State will have to observe its legal guarantee to pay it out in full, irrespective of the amount disbursed previously. We should not forget that the ultimate underwriter of this money is the taxpayer.

I assure Senator Ryan that the Government does not want to do what he alleges. That is not the way I do my business. The Government wishes to use the mechanisms of the State, including area implementation teams and public services, to make assessments and generate proposals. Each sector should be told how much money is available to address each particular issue before proposals are sought. We can all agree that it would be much more effective to meet with all disability groups to agree priority areas for a certain year and the amount of money we will apply.