Joe McHugh (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 12:

In page 12, to delete lines 8 to 29.

A great deal of information is contained in these amendments. They return us to the issue of funding distribution and the so-called board. I still have suspicions about and problems with who will be accountable and in who will have discretion in regard to the distribution of money. My fear is that this board will be established as a dummy, which merely fulfils the provisions of the Dormant Accounts Act for its own sake. All the indications are that the disbursement of the money will be at the discretion of the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and his Cabinet colleagues on the basis of recommendations from the board.

The Minister agreed with me that there should be more regional governance because the system is very centralised at present. In that context, an opportunity was missed in the provision of powers to this board. A decentralised regional board could have been provided for, which would represent all the regions. On a board of ten members, will Cork, south Kerry, north-west Donegal or Louth be represented? I am not being parochial, rather I want to do justice to the thinking which is being undertaken by people on the ground. Leaving aside the specifics of Donegal, a sort of north-west regional think tank has developed in this regard. Will this area be represented on the board and, if it is, what powers will any representative have in directing funds to his or her own region?

The Minister stated that three criteria will be strictly adhered to in the allocation of funding, namely, socio-economic disadvantage, educational disadvantage and educational disability disadvantage. As the Minister knows, these criteria cover every type of activity from setting up an egg hatchery to developing an ostrich racecourse. Economic and social disadvantage covers everything and creates a window of opportunity for the Cabinet to consider every project which lands on its desk as eligible for dormant accounts funding. There is no restriction in terms of what will be funded and what will not.

At the outset of this debate, I referred to a deeper malaise which still exists, in regard to which an opportunity was missed in the provisions to establish this board. If we decide to nominate a board, which makes recommendations and proposals to the Cabinet, one-off grants will be awarded, for example, €100,000 to group A or €200,000 to group B, which will only gratify short-term needs but go no way to addressing the long-term sustainability of projects. Perhaps this money would be better used to examine regional governance and how we could give more control and autonomy to the major players outside our centralised Government, which Senator Ryan described as a Stalinist-type system.

This is a stop-gap measure which will be politicised and the Minister knows in his heart that is the case, although he will not say so on the record. I acknowledge that the Minister is genuine in his intentions, as Senator Ryan has stated, but the system will be politicised at the Cabinet table and will be used in a manner which will provide no long-term benefit to the projects which receive the funding in the short term. It is no different from national lottery funding, the only benefit of which is that capital projects have been invested in. However, in terms of the money being well-spent and in terms of value for money, my colleagues in Fine Gael and I have a serious problem with the establishment of this board.