Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 202: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the specific funding that has been disbursed from the dormant accounts fund in 2005 to each individual constituency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18776/05]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 203: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the amount of funding that has been disbursed from the dormant accounts fund in 2004 to projects on the offshore islands; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18786/05]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 204: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the amount of funding that was disbursed from the dormant accounts fund in 2004; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18787/05]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 202 to 204, inclusive, together.

Decisions on the disbursement of unclaimed moneys from the dormant accounts fund are currently a matter for the Dormant Accounts Fund Disbursements Board. This is an independent statutory body under the aegis of my Department and established under the Dormant Accounts Acts. The board engaged Area Development Management Limited, ADM, to administer the initial round of funding on its behalf, which involves the disbursement of up to €60 million from the fund.

During 2004, the board approved 420 projects for funding totalling almost €42 million. To date in 2005, the board has approved further projects bringing the overall totals to 482 approvals involving a total amount of €56.2 million. While a breakdown of these approvals by individual constituency is not available, a county analysis is set out in the following appendix for the Deputy's information.

The drawdown of funding is subject to the satisfactory completion of legal contracts between the individual groups and the board. As part of this process, groups are required to submit necessary documentation, such as agreed budgets, tax clearance certificates, evidence of insurance, etc., to ADM before payments are actually made. The total amount disbursed with regard to projects approved by the board was approximately €1.4 million in 2004 and to date in 2005, this figure has increased to €4 million. Furthermore, in July 2004, following consultation with the board and in accordance with the terms of the Dormant Accounts Act 2001, as amended, €10 million from the fund was transferred to my Department to partly finance the rural social scheme.

With regard to projects on the offshore islands, I understand that five applications were received by ADM. These were evaluated against the criteria set out in the published guidelines and recommendations made to the board for decision. None of these applications were successful and the groups concerned were advised of the board's decisions and offered the opportunity to seek a review of those decisions.