I propose to take Question Nos. 108, 109, 112, 120, 125, 128, 145, 170, 177 and 189 together.
At present decisions on disbursement of funds from dormant accounts are a matter for the Dormant Accounts Fund Disbursement Board. It is an independent body established under the Dormant Accounts Acts.
The board is currently deciding on the disbursement of funds of up to €30 million. To date it has approved 18 projects for funding totalling approximately €1.7 million. Approximately 500 applications have been received to date and they are being assessed on an ongoing basis by ADM on behalf of the board. The Government has not and will not be involved in decisions about these applications.
In December 2003 the Government reviewed arrangements for dormant accounts. Three practical considerations for doing so are as follows: the board's organisational arrangements involve a handful of seconded civil servants in a secretariat role and are not designed to support disbursements on the scale now emerging; governance arrangements, including the legal requirement that a part-time chairman should be accountable for millions of euro, are inadequate; to ensure value for money the fund must be co-ordinated with priorities identified by Government and debated in this House.
The Government does not consider that increasing the number of the board's administrative staff would adequately address the governance and policy issues arising. It believes that the objectives of the disbursements scheme, as set out in the board's first disbursement plan, should remain unchanged. In other words, funding to assist programmes or projects targeting the following three broad categories of persons: those affected by economic and social disadvantage; those affected by educational disadvantage; and persons with a disability.
The plan was published in November 2003 and appropriate administrative supports were provided for its preparation by the board.
The Government's decision of 18 December 2003 provides that decisions on disbursement of funds would be taken following a transparent application and evaluation process. Appropriate arrangements would be put in place so that spending from the fund would be clearly separate to the Estimates provision.
The Government proposes key roles on advising, monitoring and planning in the area of dormant accounts for the board, with particular regard to the following: advising on priority areas to be considered annually for funding; preparation of the disbursement plan; and reviewing, evaluating, and reporting on the effectiveness, additionality and impact of disbursements.
This year draft legislation will be introduced with a view to giving effect to these decisions. I expect the legislation will be published over the coming months.
A second transfer of funds from credit institutions, together with the first transfer of moneys from life assurance policies, will take place at the end of April 2004. At this stage I cannot estimate the likely yield from these sources in 2004 but the sum will become clearer at the end of April.
Last December the Minister wrote to the board's chairman about an additional €10 million for the rural social scheme and the board responded in writing. The process was undertaken in accordance with the terms of the Dormant Accounts Act 2001, as amended. Arrangements for the scheme are currently being finalised.
Under the disbursement plan a significant level of allocations from the fund are being targeted at programmes or projects within RAPID, CLÁR and drugs task force areas. No proposals are currently envisaged to change the arrangement.
I shall now answer the question about funding for initiatives such as the local development programme and the YPFSF. In 2004, under subhead L in my Department's Vote a sum of €42.144 million was provided for local development and social inclusion measures. Last year's funding under the same subhead was €44.662 million. A budget of €1.5 million to support the implementation of the RAPID programme was included in the figure. This year the funding is €5.8 million, including capital, and is reflected in a new separate subhead in the Department's Vote, subhead O2. Therefore, a comparison of both subheads is not appropriate.
Funding for drugs initiatives in 2004 will not be reduced. The difference in provision — as outlined in the 2004 Revised Estimates — arises from the mainstreaming of successfully evaluated services projects from round I of the YPFSF. As many as 85 projects were positively evaluated and have been mainstreamed with effect from 1 January 2004. As a result €6.705 million was transferred to other Votes. The Department of Education and Science received €6.594 million and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform received €0.111 million. They are now responsible for the continued funding of the projects in question. I intend to announce round II allocations under the fund in the very near future.