Brian Walsh (Galway West, Independent)
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166. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if an application for funding for an organisation (details supplied) will be reviewed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31779/14]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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170. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will reconsider the position of funding for Deaforward in view of the important services provided for the deaf community across the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31800/14]

Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour)
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171. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will reinstate funding for the Irish Deaf Society; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31851/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 166, 170 and 171 together.

The funding scheme to support national organisations in the community and voluntary sector aims to provide multi-annual funding to national organisations towards core costs associated with the provision of services. A new round of funding was advertised for applications earlier this year. Pobal was asked to undertake an assessment of the applications received, given that organisation's significant experience and expertise of both the design of assessment criteria and completion of assessment functions. My predecessor was anxious to make funding available to as many organisations as possible within the prevailing resource constraints and approved 55 applications for funding for the two-year period from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2016. The Irish Deaf Society is not one of the organisations approved for funding on this occasion.

Pobal has put in place a dedicated team to deal with any inquiries from applicants and to provide detailed feedback. There is also an appeals process and Pobal has provided applicants with detailed information on this process. As this appeals process is now live, it would not be appropriate for me to make any further comment on the funding process or on the application of any particular organisation.