Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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284. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the arrangements being put in place to ensure that funding is provided to the mountain rescue teams for insurance to cover their activities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15023/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Mountain Rescue Ireland is currently in receipt of funding from my Department under the Development Scheme to Support National Organisations (DSSNO) which is due to conclude on 30 June 2016, having previously been in receipt of funding under the Scheme to Support National Organisations 2011-2014. Funding under these schemes is provided to national organisations towards core costs associated with the provision of services. I understand that this is used by Mountain Rescue Ireland to cover costs of insurance.

A review of the DSSNO, with a focus on the long-term funding situation of a number of applicant organisations who were unsuccessful under the 2014-2016 Scheme to Support National Organisations, was published in 2015. This review contained a recommendation that Mountain Rescue Ireland continue to be funded, through alternative and sustainable funding sources within the Department of the Environment, Community & Local Government, rather than having to compete for funding through this Scheme.

Mountain Rescue Ireland and my Department are working together in relation to the ongoing funding of this valuable service.