Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not propose to accept Senator MacSharry's amendment to the Order of Business. On the Senator's question in regard to which Minister has responsibility for the disability strategy, a change has been made to the official title of the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, to incorporate primary care. The Minister of State is still responsible for the disability strategy and older people. It is not possible to include every responsibility in the title of a Minister or Minister of State's portfolio. I can assure the Senator that is the situation.

I thank Members for their agreement to taking all Stages of the Court of Appeal Bill 2014 this evening. I propose to amend the Order of Business, which currently provides that only Second Stage be taken at 6 p.m., with the contributions of group spokespersons not to exceed eight minutes and those of all other Senators not to exceed five minutes and the Minister to be given five minutes to reply, to specify that Committee and Remaining Stages be taken thereafter. I also propose to amend the Order of Business in relation to Private Members' business in that I referred to No. 65, motion No. 11, when I should have said No. 69, motion No. 12.

Senator Hayden spoke about women in Cabinet. The number of females at Cabinet level has doubled from two to four, which is to be welcomed by all. Senator Hayden also called for the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, to come to the House to discuss the issue of student accommodation, on-campus accommodation and the availability of accommodation for students generally. I will certainly ask the Minister to come to the House next term.

Senator van Turnhout raised the issue of employment permits and said that we might not have allocated sufficient time for that debate. If additional time is necessary, I will amend the Order of Business. I have no intention of curtailing the debate on this issue. If further time is required, it will be provided later or on Friday. The Senator and others also raised the issue of the scheme to support national organisations. The current funding scheme commenced in July 2011 and was due to expire in December 2013, but it was extended to June 2014 with a view to the commencement of a new scheme from 1 July this year. The overall budget for the new scheme is €8 million. During 2013, officials of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government carried out a review of the scheme. The review found that the scheme has fulfilled its main objective in providing national organisations with multi-annual funding towards the core costs associated with the provision of services. The review recommended that organisations be required to clearly demonstrate the added value of the work proposed. Effective use of the core funding in recipient organisations also requires that robust governance and cost control procedures be in place in all of these organisations.

The new scheme was advertised for application during the first quarter of this year. Pobal was asked to undertake an assessment of the applications received and this process, from submission of application to notification of suitable and successful applications, took place in quarters 1 and 2 this year. Pobal has significant experience of the design and assessment criteria and completion of assessment functions in this regard. A large number of applicant organisations sought the maximum level of funding available. In some case, an amount in excess of the maximum available funding was sought. As a result, the number of organisations that could potentially be funded under the scheme within the budget available was lower than for previous schemes. In order to making the funding available to as many organisations as possible in these difficult times, the situation was assessed and the allocations under the scheme were announced last week. Pobal received 157 applications for funding under the scheme, three of which did not meet the basic eligibility criteria. The remaining 154 applicants were appraised against the criteria as outlined in the application guidance, with 55 approved for funding for the two-year period from 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2016. Pobal has put in place a dedicated team to deal with inquiries from applicants and to provide detailed feedback to applicants.

There is also an appeals process and Pobal has provided applicants with detailed information in respect of it. The appeals process is now live and it would not be appropriate to make any further comment on the funding process as a result. As Senator Colm Burke stated, some 2,600 organisations are in receipt of funding from the HSE. A call was made on yesterday's Order of Business for a debate on the issue of funding for such organisations. A number of these organisations represent one or two groups. Perhaps encouraging them to work together would be a good idea. I am sure we will return to this matter early in the next term.

Senator Norris referred to extending an invitation to Pope Francis to visit Ireland. As the Cathaoirleach stated, that matter will be discussed by the CPP. I assure the Senator that the Government and the Papal Nuncio fully support the notion of extending such an invitation to the Pope. I understand that moves are afoot.