Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 600: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the amount of money which was allocated from the Voter Education Fund to Rock the Vote Ireland and My Candidate campaigns to target young voters between 18 and 35 in advance of the Lisbon treaty referendum; if the expenditure on each campaign has been audited; if it represented value for money; if he proposes to allocate a similar sum of money for similar campaigns in advance of the second Lisbon referendum campaign; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12038/09]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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My Department does not operate a Voter Education Fund. In 2008 under the Communicating Europe Initiative a sum of €20,000 was allocated to an organisation entitled 'Voter Education Fund' in respect of the Rock the Vote project which was aimed at encouraging young people between the ages of 18 and 35 to vote in the Lisbon Treaty Referendum in 2008. The project comprised the development of a website, www.rockthevote.ie , and a number of nationwide publicity events.

The Communicating Europe Initiative, which is administered by my Department, provides grants to voluntary organisations, educational bodies and civil society groups for the development of EU themed projects and programmes aimed at raising awareness about Ireland's membership of the European Union.

A general condition of the scheme is that within 12 months of receiving funding the beneficiaries must submit a report describing the activities undertaken and provide a financial statement detailing all expenditure together with originals of all invoices, vouchers and supporting documentation.

In the case of the Rock the Vote project, the Voter Education Fund is obliged to submit the requisite material by 5 June 2009, in compliance with the general conditions of the Communicating Europe Initiative.