Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 233: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the steps he will take to ensure that monies which are owed to a voluntary group (details supplied) under the FÁS social economy programme, which ended on 31 December 2005 are now granted to the group; if this voluntary body which is a not for profit organisation and is run by a committee on a voluntary basis, is permitted to hold onto its current level of staff who are performing an essential role in the running of the facility; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38160/06]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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When the funding for the Social Economy Programme (now renamed the Community Services Programme) transferred to my Department on 1st January 2006, the amount of funding which transferred matched the existing staffing and liabilities within the Programme.

My Department has made no reduction in the number of positions, nor in the budgets of projects funded since taking responsibility for the Programme. In the case of Kilbeggan Preservation and Development Association (KPDA), my Department is satisfied that the agreed staffing of the project for 2005 was for 1 Manager and 2 full-time equivalent staff. FÁS has confirmed these numbers to my Department. Given that this project is an income earning tourist attraction it is open to the project to fund additional positions from its tourism income. My Department is ensuring that the project is funded on the basis of the above numbers.