Vol. 545 No. 4
367 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation if he will increase the annual funding provided for the tourism victim support service to enable the service implement its action plan for the years 2002-04; his views on whether the funds provided for the service by the State are inadequate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30709/01]
As I said in the House on 14 November, the tourism victim support service, TVSS, receives an annual grant of IR£15,000 from Bord Fáilte and not from my Department. The TVSS forwarded an application for increased funding to me last August, which has been forwarded for consideration to Bord Fáilte which has confirmed to me recently that it is still in discussion with the TVSS. I am aware that a number of organisations, in addition to Bord Fáilte, also make contributions to the TVSS. I understand that the TVSS is now making a concerted effort to increase sponsorship and I have called on the many tourism enterprises which avail of or have access to the referral service to also consider making a contribution to the funding of TVSS activities.
