Jillian van Turnhout (Independent)
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The Minister of State is welcome to the House but I am disappointed that the Minister, Deputy Hogan, is not here.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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So am I.

Jillian van Turnhout (Independent)
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When the Minister of State hears the issues I wish to raise he will understand why I say that.

I wish to first make a disclosure on this issue as it is about the scheme to support national organisations in the community and voluntary sector. I was chief executive of the Children's Rights Alliance, which is one of the recipients, and I am the chair of Children in Hospital Ireland. Neither of those organisations has brought this issue to my attention, although I know how critical it is. I raised this issue about this scheme on 28 May 2013 as an Adjournment matter, and on 16 December 2013, 18 February 2014 and I raise it again today. Therefore, it is not something of which the Minister or the Department is not aware.

This scheme to support those national organisations is a critical lifeline for them. In the case of the majority of these organisations, this funding they receive from the State is their sole funding - it is their core funding. When I first raised this issue on 28 May 2013, I raised the question of some of the organisations who are in receipt of this funding and I mentioned the FAI. I do not believe the criteria for the awarding of this grant was for those types of organisations and that we would pay one eighth of John Delaney's salary.

I raised this issue in February because of the delay in making payments under the scheme. Many of the organisations have been in this scheme since the 1990s. The funding they get from the State is quite a dependable stream and the level of it goes up and down depending on the current economic climate, but they had dramatic cuts in their funding at the end of last year. Payments normally come into them in January and I raised this issue on 18 February because the organisations had not received the money and they had not got any confirmation about future funding. At that stage we received confirmation that a new scheme was being published and that it would come into place with effect form 1 July and therefore current funding would run to the 30 June.

Can one imagine if one was in one of these organisations and on the Friday of the May bank holiday weekend one got a letter from the Department referring to the competition - as it is a new scheme - for the Scheme to Support National Organisations in the Community and Voluntary Sector 2014-2016. The letter states the Minister had hoped to be in a position to approve the successful applications organisations by the end of May. It also states that unfortunately due to competing priorities, the Minister will not be in position to announce the results of the competition for this scheme until early June.

That is fair enough and when this letter was sent to me I said "Let us give the Minister a few weeks". That letter goes on to state that in light of this, if the organisation is using funding under the current scheme that finishes at the end of June for direct salary costs - which many organisations are - of specific employees, in the absence of an alternative source of funding within the organisation's own resource, the organisation may have to consider putting those staff on protective notice.

We are here today on 26 June and the organisations do not know if they will get the funding. They do not know what is happening. There are staff losing their jobs today because the Minister has competing priorities. I have raised this issue four times in the Seanad in the past year. I have progressed it. I have played fair but there are organisations that are basically being told that the Department has not done its job. These organisations are the heart-blood of our community sector throughout Ireland. Each one of them would deserve to be the subject of an Adjournment debate in the Seanad. That is why I am disappointed the Minister is not here and the Minister of State has been put in an impossible position of trying to reply to this matter.

There are staff leaving their jobs today. I waited and waited for the Department to give an answer. I tried internally in the Department to get an answer. The State is telling these organisations to put staff on protective notice. Organisations that have raised this matter with me asked me if I could be very careful about mentioning their name - that they are in fear; it is the chilling effect. I do not believe that is the Government's intention. I do not understand why this is happening. That is why last May I raised in the Seanad the importance of us preparing well in advance for when the scheme would come to an end in December in order that we could prepare for this. I said that there are organisations in receipt of this funding that should not be in receipt of it. Let us be upfront about that. I offered to work with the Minister as I know the sector but nothing has happened and now this weekend will go by and organisations will make cuts. They will be told that they should be professional and should be preparing, but I think it is unacceptable. That is why I wanted to raise this matter in the Seanad and I thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing me to raise it today.

It is totally and utterly unacceptable that these cuts have been made and that a letter from a Department commits to a Minister making a decision by the beginning of June, which is already very late in the process, and it actually advises for staff to be put on protective notice and yet the organisations have still not got an answer by the end of June.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator van Turnhout for raising this matter. I appreciate fully the issues she has raised, the fact that she has raised this matter on a number of occasions and that finality has not been brought to it yet. I will be happy at the conclusion of the Adjournment debate to ring the Department immediately and hopefully we will try and get the matter resolved. That is all I can do.

Jillian van Turnhout (Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for that.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Hogan. The funding scheme to support national organisations in the community and voluntary sector commenced in 2008 under the then Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. This scheme amalgamated and replaced schemes previously operating under the White Paper on Supporting Voluntary Activity.

The scheme aims to provide multi-annual funding to national organisations towards core costs associated with the provision of services. The current funding scheme commenced in July 2011 and was due to expire in December 2013. However, as the Senator pointed out, the scheme was extended to the end of June 2014, with a view to a new scheme commencing from 1 July. The overall budget for 2014 under both the old and new schemes, is approximately €3.1 million.

During 2013 officials in the Department carried out a review of the scheme. The terms of reference for the review of the scheme included an examination of the extent to which the objectives, rationale and approach of the scheme remain valid and made recommendations regarding the future role and scope of the scheme. The review found that the scheme has fulfilled its main objective of providing multi-annual funding to national organisations towards core costs associated with the provision of services. The funding of a range of national networks and organisations can be seen to enhance the capacity of the community and voluntary sector to organise itself at a national level and to raise standards across the sector. The review also found that the scheme is in line with objectives set out under the White Paper on a Framework for Supporting Voluntary Activity.

Following the recommendations contained in the review, the new scheme will continue in a broadly similar manner to the current approach. The review recommended that organisations be required to clearly demonstrate the need for the funding requested, how the need was identified, the added value of the work proposed, how the proposed activities will demonstrate value for money and how the organisation will collaborate, co-ordinate and engage in partnership work with other relevant agencies and organisations. Seeking this level of detail, both during the application process and as necessary during the running of the scheme, will improve the targeting of available resources. In particular, it will assist in identifying measurable outcomes and goals associated with organisations across a wide range of funding areas. The effective use of core funding in recipient organisations also requires that robust governance and cost-control procedures are in place within those organisations, particularly at board level, and that will also form a key element of the assessment process.

The new scheme was advertised for applications during quarter one of this year. The Minister, Deputy Hogan, has asked Pobal to undertake an assessment of the applications received, and this process, from submission of applications to notification of successful applicants, took place during quarters 1 and 2 of this year. Pobal has significant experience of both the design of assessment criteria and the completion of assessment functions. The recommendation or decision on a proposal for funding, or the suitability of a plan, is not simply reduced to numerical calculations. The process includes other considerations, such as the social and economic benefits, consistency with current policies and long-term vision. This approach is predicated on the bringing together of the relevant information, using experience, evidential analysis, a consideration of the consequences, the options and the risks and coming to a decision or recommendation which is defendable and accountable.

Notwithstanding the comprehensive assessment and appraisal approach that was undertaken, it is the case that a large number of the applicant organisations sought the maximum level of funding available or in some cases an amount in excess of the maximum funding available. As a result, the number of organisations that could potentially be funded under the scheme, within the budget available, was significantly lower than for previous schemes. The Minister, Deputy Hogan, has concerns in that regard and he is considering the issue carefully as he is anxious to make funding available to as many organisations as possible in these difficult times. He will conclude his assessment in the near future and will announce the scheme allocations immediately thereafter.

Jillian van Turnhout (Independent)
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It is said that one should not shoot the messenger.

Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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Does the Senator have a question?

Jillian van Turnhout (Independent)
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As the Minister of State will understand, I am totally and utterly unhappy with the reply because I received it in February also. I have heard about the process and the outline previously. The Minister of State should explain it to the staff whose last day of work is on Monday. There is a cost to the organisations because they have to pay staff for holidays and other costs. We are talking about community and voluntary organisations. Each organisation on the scheme deserves attention. The Minister of State has been put in an impossible situation and I am sure he would agree with me that the organisations are being put in an even more impossible situation. I ask the Minister of State to raise the matter with the Minister. I will raise it again if we do not get a satisfactory response. The reference to the "near future" means nothing to organisations given that we have raised the issue for the past year. They got a letter from the Department that said a decision would be made by the Minister by the beginning of June.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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I am happy to progress the matter by immediately getting in touch with the Department to see whether we can clarify dates.