asked the Minister for the Environment if his attention has been drawn to the fact that St. Joseph's Youth Club, Inchicore, Dublin 8, has been approved for a £60,000 grant by his Department in each of the last two years but that due to circumstances beyond their control were unable to take up the grant in either year; that the old club premises have been closed for the past two and a half years on foot of an order of the fire officer in the aftermath of the Stardust disaster; that the club which has been in existence since 1944 are finding it hard to continue without a premises; that a site which has been donated for the purposes of a new clubhouse has been cleared; that planning permission has been granted; that because of the lapse of time the club's needs will now be in the order of £100,000 in order to bring the project to a successful conclusion; if he will approve a grant of that amount; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Inchicore (Dublin) Youth Club.
Because of the exceptional level of demand for amenity grants and the comparatively limited amount available to finance the scheme, I regret that I was not able to allocate a grant for this project in 1988.
Does the Minister not accept the reasons advanced by Deputy Mitchell, which are well known to a number of us, that the organisation ran into difficulties? They needed a clean site for redevelopment purposes and, on the other hand, were deprived of the use of their existing premises by virtue of the fire officer's requirement. They had previously been sanctioned for grant purposes and their value in the area had been recognised. In those circumstances would the Minister not consider at least indicating that they might receive favourable consideration in the next round of grants to be allocated?
It was unfortunate that they got mixed up in so many ways. As the Deputy is probably aware, there was also difficulty with the planning permission. On one occasion money was granted and could not be drawn down. Money was granted by me last year and some of it was drawn down. If and when the matter comes before me again, I will pay very close attention to the representations made by the Deputy.
Is there any significance in the "if" in the reply?
The Deputy will have to ask Deputy Quinn about that. He has been making all the prognostications on that matter for the past week.