asked the Minister for the Environment if he will make available at least £70,000 from the national lottery funds to a leisure co-operative (details supplied) in Dublin 10 in view of the facts of the case; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna-Questions. Oral Answers. - Dublin Leisure Co-operative Funding.
12.
I have received an application for a grant under the amenity grants scheme, financed from the national lottery surplus, in respect of the building of a store ancillary to this sports and leisure complex. I am not yet in a position to give a decision on this application.
I have not received any application in respect of the sports and leisure complex which, I understand, is already completed and would not be eligible for consideration for a grant.
When will the Minister be in a position to take decisions in relation to the disbursement of moneys from this fund in relation to this and other applications?
There has been no application submitted in respect of the element mentioned in the question. However, it is my intention — and I should like to do it very soon — to give an indication to the organisations that will benefit from the amenity grant scheme so that they can get on with the work. I should like to do so within a couple of weeks.
Will that mean that the moneys allocated will have to be spent within this financial year?
That is what I should like, yes.
Could the Minister distinguish between what he would like and whether there would be a requirement?
No. As long as the work has started and there is a commitment to the work — and the work has been started in 1988 — then grant approval can be applied to it and be paid as soon as the work has been completed. I would encourage everybody eligible for a grant to start the work as soon as possible.
Are there application forms available from the Minister's Department for grants from this source? Furthermore, will the Minister inform the House what criteria are applied in determining whether applications should receive grant assistance from the national lottery?
The Deputy is extending the scope of this question.
Yes, but by way of answering the Deputy I should tell him that there are application forms available from my Department.
And the criteria?
If it is not written on the application form, certainly there is a separate leaflet that can be obtained, or the information will be made available to any applicant. I suggest that the Deputy gets the application forms first. I should add that it is quite a simple application form and has been deliberately framed in that manner.
Have Fianna Fáil Deputies sent them around the country?
We have received a fair amount of applications and their source has not been Fianna Fáil.
Question Time has become somewhat untidy.
Is the Minister monitoring them carefully?
Quite closely.
Can the Minister give the House an assurance that decisions are taken on a fair and equitable basis, not on the basis of which Fianna Fáil Deputy happens to make representations in support of certain applications because that impression is abroad, due largely to the action of certain members of the Minister's party ——
This is a difficult question ——
——about which those who subscribe to the national lottery are concerned at the abuse.
It has not been done that way by the Minister. It will be my intention that every single constituency will share in the range of amenities that will be grant-aided for the simple reason that every single parish in the country has contributed.
Would the Minister condemn that type of action?
Order, Deputy Mac Giolla has been called and will be heard.
I am not aware of such action at all.
The Minister should travel down to ——
Will Deputy Molloy please desist and allow Question Time to proceed in an orderly manner. Deputy Molloy usually ends up in a note of acrimony; is that not strange?
The Deputy has got very cross.
This is a very specific question about a very specific matter and apparently Deputy Molloy wanted to get into the whole area about which he could have asked questions. I want to ask the Minister in regard to this specific question if he is aware that the voluntary committee in an area of very high unemployment, where such a sports and leisure complex is absolutely essential, fear there is a danger of this expensive centre closing down on account of a mixture of outstanding fees from builders and various other difficulties? The Minister mentioned in the course of his reply that no application had been received apart from one in respect of the building of a store ancillary to this sports and leisure complex ——
That is right.
If an application were submitted, could the Minister say whether it would receive favourable consideration or be in line for any funding?
I should say that the sports and leisure complex has been completed already. Favourable consideration would not be possible because the relevant grants have to be made available in respect of new projects or phases of existing projects of new work undertaken in 1988. The ancillary store is the one that has been recommended by Dublin Corporation but it represents a very much smaller amount of money than that suggested in the Deputy's question. It is not possible to grant aid work already undertaken which has been grant-aided previously. The scheme does not allow for that. However, the second element — the building of a store ancillary to this sports and leisure complex — would be in order. An application has been received in respect thereof and a sum recommended by Dublin Corporation.
Is there no other way of getting assistance than through substantial building projects?
I do not think the Deputy really wants to pursue that matter with me here in the House.
Obviously more evidence of a special relationship.
No.
Question No. 13.