Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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455. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the position regarding the provision of ongoing State funding for the Irish Deaf Society; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32030/14]

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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463. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will reverse the recent decision not to grant funds to the Neurological Alliance of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32120/14]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Independent)
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499. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the basis for the recent decision to cut €1.2 million of funding from his Department for 25 charities; if he will provide details of the impact assessment which was carried out in respect of this decision; if he will reconsider this decision in view of the invaluable work of these charities and the relatively small amount involved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32662/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 455, 463 and 499 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. During 2013, officials in my Department carried out a review of the scheme, which found that it has fulfilled its main objective of providing multi-annual funding to national organisations towards core costs associated with the provision of services. The review recommended that organisations be required to demonstrate clearly the added value of the work proposed.

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. Two well-attended information sessions were hosted by the Department and Pobal during the application process to outline the requirements of the new Scheme. Application Guidelines were also issued, which outlined the scoring process which included capacity of the organisation, strategic fit, demonstration of need, achievability of the proposal and value for money. Organisations were provided with support in the application process, including a dedicated email address as a preferred contact method to deal promptly with queries, and enquiries were also dealt with by telephone.

My predecessor was anxious to make funding available to as many organisations as possible within the prevailing resource constraints and he approved 55 applications for funding for the two-year period from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2016. The Irish Deaf Society and the Neurological Association of Ireland were not 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 a scheme appeals process and applicants have been provided with detailed information in that regard. As that 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.