I wish to raise the question of the Young People's Facilities and Services Fund and how we will administer and operate it once it is up and running. The Minister of State will know the background and the amount of money the Government has very generously made available to deal with drug abuse and young people at risk. By and large, the money will be channelled back into disadvantaged areas under a number projects. Various committees, particularly local development committees, and groups have been trying to put together projects.
There has been much interaction with the City of Dublin VEC in relation to the work being done in Dublin and also with the local partnerships in terms of looking at projects and consulting with people to come up with the best submissions. Most of that work has been done under the aegis of the development groups, the submissions have been presented to the national assessment committee and work is being finalised.
The question which remains is, what criteria will be used to distribute the funds to the various groups? That is an important question because obviously there will be a far greater number of bodies and individuals looking for funding than is available to be spread around. Once the distribution takes place, how will we assess and evaluate its implementation and use? What support mechanisms will be put in place to ensure people who will operate in a voluntary capacity have a degree of professional expertise to back them up and to ensure those in a supervisory role spend the money properly? In the context of the European Union, the question of accountability arises. Accounts will have to be presented and properly audited returns will have to be made indicating where the money has been spent. As I said, most of the services about which are talking will be in the area of youth and, by and large, in the backstops — the deprived and disadvantaged areas in the city.
Clearly some support structure is required. The obvious support, monitoring and accounting structure is the vocational education committees because they have a particular role in relation to the youth services board, Comhairle Le Leas Óige, the body which has been doing most of the work to date. It is a body with a particular remit as regards the provision of grants and services, particularly to young people at risk, in the areas of leisure and recreation. If this is the case, and it would be desirable because it has the network in place, adequate resources should be given to it. It should not be expected to go into the breach without extra personnel and financial resources.
We will have to monitor the implementation of the fund and how money is spent. Accounting can be a very tedious and time consuming function but an important one but it is now essential given what is required of us by the European Union.
What is the Minister of State's thinking on the appropriate body, whether the vocational education committees or the partnerships? Who will be responsible for the operation and supervision of the funds and who will be accountable? How does the Minister intend to go about this? Does he plan to provide extra staff and resources to enable this to be done properly?