Joe Walsh (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 357: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if a capital grant and staffing grant will be sanctioned to a group (details supplied) in County Cork. [27727/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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As the Deputy may be aware, the community-based group in question submitted an application for capital grant assistance to my Department in February 2005. The application was forwarded immediately to Area Development Management Limited, or ADM, which is engaged by my Department to carry out the day-to-day administration of the equal opportunities child care programme from 2000 to 2006, EOCP, including detailed assessments of all EOCP grant applications. Each application undergoes a thorough assessment by ADM to ensure that it meets the EOCP funding criteria.

I understand from inquiries that I have made that ADM has been in dialogue with the group and received correspondence from it clarifying certain outstanding issues. Following the assessment, the application for capital grant assistance will be considered by the programme appraisal committee, or PAC, which is chaired by my Department, before a decision is made regarding funding.

The group in question was awarded staffing grant assistance under the EOCP of €12,000 for one year in March 2003. That funding was approved to allow the group to submit a development plan for the service and to progress its capital grant application.

An application for further staffing grant assistance was considered by the PAC in March 2005. Having considered the application in the light of all information made available, the PAC did not recommend that the project should continue to be funded under the staffing measure of the EOCP. The group offers a limited service of one session per day, which has not expanded since the original staffing grant was approved. As a result, it was considered that the group had not sufficiently addressed the conditions attached to its initial staffing grant or moved towards fully meeting the objectives of the EOCP.

An appeal regarding that staffing grant was received in June 2005 and forwarded to ADM for assessment. I understand that the appeal is in the final stages of the appraisal process. On completion of that process, a decision will be made by my Department and communicated to the group at the earliest possible date.