Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The bottom line is that the Department of Justice has pulled the rug out from under Sensational Kids at the last minute. It was approved for the IIP programme. It was told it could still access the required additional funding to complete the project after the IIP closed. It was never advised of a timeline to submit additional information and now it is in a situation where costs have risen by more than €4 million and there is nowhere to turn.

Sensational Kids is not alone. Numerous organisations have committed significant financial investment to their applications, based on the reasonable expectation that their application would be treated in the same manner as all previous applicants had been treated.

I put it to the Minister of State that all organisations should be granted 12 months from 15 February 2023 in which to resolve IIP projects already approved, in particular when the project is at serious risk of failing due to this decision and through no fault of its own. That is a very important message to bring back to the Minister.