Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 296 and 297 together.

All Partner Services that had an active Core Funding Contract during the 2022/2023 Programme Year must provide validated Financial Returns.

Core Funding payments to providers must run on a programme year, September-August, in line with the school year, the operation of the Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare (SAC) sector, and the payments made to providers under the other DCEDIY schemes. Therefore, the financial returns cover the period from 1st September 2022 to 31st August 2023 and must be submitted by an accountant from a registered practise or a registered professional body (ACA, ACAA, CPA, and CIMA), on behalf of each Partner Service. My Department is not requesting audited accounts.

To facilitate these reporting requirements, my Department has worked collaboratively with an external consultant to finalise the nominal codes for the Core Funding Chart of Accounts and develop the Core Funding Financial Reporting template and associated financial management tool.

My Department acknowledges the increase in administration for providers with the introduction of new schemes such as the NCS and Core Funding. I have allocated €32.13 million for administration under Core Funding in year two, and €35.34m for the third year of the scheme.

In addition a number of targeted supports are being considered by my Department to enable Core Funding Partner Services to comply with the financial reporting requirement.

In any instances where a service is experiencing financial difficulty, they can reach out to their local City/County Childcare Committee and avail of Case Management Supports. This can include operational supports as well as financial supports through Sustainability Funding if deemed appropriate.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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298. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will urgently reconsider an application for essential funding on behalf of a group (details supplied). [49179/23]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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In 2023, the LGBTI+ Community Services Fund was oversubscribed, and as a result the assessment process was very competitive. For this reason, unfortunately, my Department was only in a position to provide funding to 25 out of a total of 101 applicants.

In recognition of the highly competitive funding call, all applications received were assessed and scored in strict adherence with the assessment criteria set out in the published funding call guidelines. Applications were assessed by two separate assessors within the Department. For applications where there was a pertinent difference of opinion between the scores given by those two assessors, an external reviewer was asked to review the application to provide a final score.

Thirty three percent of Scheme A (€25,000 to €100,000) applicants were successful. Due to oversubscription of the fund, and our commitment to fund as many worthwhile projects as possible, successful Scheme A applicants were only awarded 70% of the amount sought in their original application.

Nineteen percent of Scheme B applicants were successful. Successful Scheme B projects (€5,000 to €10,000) were awarded the full amount applied for as it is likely the projects would not be feasible if funding was reduced.

Should additional funding become available the highest scoring unsuccessful organisation will be contacted.

Any organisation looking for feedback or who wish to appeal the assessment team’s decision should contact lgbti@equality.gov.ie

The 2024 LGBTI+ Community Services Fund is due to be launched in June 2024.

Please note that my Department operates a number of funding streams including the LGBTI+ Community Services Fund on the basis of annual or multi annual open calls for funding. These calls are not designed to be core funding for organisations in perpetuity. The engagement and maintenance of staff working on approved projects is a matter for the applicant organisation and not the responsibility of the funding Department.