Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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Question 529: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when a decision will be made on the application by Ballyduff Family and Community Support Forum Limited in 2001 to the family support agency to be included and resourced as a family resource centre; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29227/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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Responsibility for the Family and Community Services Resource Centre, FRC, programme was transferred to the Family Support Agency on its establishment in May 2003. Applications to join the FRC programme then fell to be addressed by the newly established agency.

The Ballyduff Family and Community Support Forum Limited's application to join the programme, originally submitted to the then Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs in 2001, was submitted to a sub-group of the Family Support Agency for consideration in 2004. The sub-group, established to assess such applications, decided at that time to postpone any decision until a regional support agency was in place covering the southern region. These support agencies play a vital role in the establishment of family resource centres by providing advice and support and by setting standards for their work.

Following the award of a contract for the region to the south and mid-west Regional Support Agency in June 2005, the Family Support Agency asked them to meet Ballyduff Family and Community Support Forum Limited and to provide an update on the group's application.

The application was re-submitted to the sub-group of the Family Support Agency for consideration earlier this month. The decision of the sub-group will be forwarded to the board of the agency for approval at their next meeting, which is scheduled for Monday 24 October. It will then be forwarded to me for final approval after which Ballyduff Family and Community Support Forum Limited will be notified of the decision in their case.