154 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Health whether he has received an application for national lottery funding from the Irish Names Quilt, an umbrella group providing support for families affected by AIDS and promoting wider awareness of this illness; whether he will provide national lottery funding in this case; and when he will be in a position to convey his decision to the organisers.
My Department provided once off support for the Irish Names Quilt tour in 1991. A further application for funding under the national lottery has been received by my Department.
As the Deputy is aware there are a range of voluntary organisations in the provision of treatment, care and prevention services and also providing support and counselling for the families of persons with AIDS. It is of critical importance that effective integration of services be achieved and to achieve that objective financial support of my Department has been concentrated in the major national and regional organisations. Specifically, the promotion of wider awareness and support for families affected by AIDS is already being undertaken by voluntary agencies such as the Dublin, Cork and Galway AIDS Alliance and CAIRDE.
The statutory services of the Regional Health Boards also provide important prevention and support services. The recently published reports of the National AIDS Strategy Committee have supported effective integration of service delivery. My Department is currently examining how best to achieve more effective integration and it is in that context that applications for AIDS funding including the application referred to by the Deputy will be assessed.
