Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 103: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will restore funding for an organisation (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14334/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy is aware, from 2003-2008 the Remembrance Commission operated a Scheme of Acknowledgement, Remembrance, and Assistance for Victims in this Jurisdiction of the Conflict in Northern Ireland.

Under the Scheme, payments could be made to individuals under various categories such as acknowledgement payments, economic hardship payments and medical expenses payments. The Scheme also contained a provision to enable payments to be paid to groups offering support services to victims of the conflict. Under this element of the scheme payments were made to the organisation to which the Deputy refers for the purpose of meeting the counselling and other needs of victims or their family members. During the period of operation of the Scheme this organisation received a total of €1.2m of the €1.5m allocated for victim support services and was the only recipient of money under this heading.

The term of appointment of the Remembrance Commission came to an end on 31 October 2008. As the Remembrance Commission's term of appointment has come to an end, funding under the Scheme is no longer available but I took a decision to grant additional funding to the group totalling €190,300 to enable it to continue to operate while seeking to put alternative funding options in place.

As I have made clear, my first priority is to ensure that those victims who require ongoing medical treatment for injuries sustained in bombings and other incidents arising from the conflict in Northern Ireland will continue to be provided for. I have made special arrangements to have these costs provided by my Department through the Victims of Crime Office.