Skip to main content
Normal View

Departmental Expenditure

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 February 2012

Tuesday, 7 February 2012

Questions (6, 7)

Billy Kelleher

Question:

66Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Justice and Equality his views on the resignation of the chief executive of the National Women’s Council, the 35% reduction in their budget; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6563/12]

View answer

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

91Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will guarantee that there will be no further cuts to the current 35% funding cut from his Department to the National Women’s Council of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6549/12]

View answer

Oral answers (13 contributions)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 66 and 91 together.

I wish to clarify for the House that the National Women's Council of Ireland is wholly independent of my Department. However, my Department will make up to €350,000 available to the council towards its core funding and to deliver a programme of activities in 2012. This represents a decrease of 35% on the Department's provision in 2011 and reflects the need to achieve savings of €100 million in the justice group of Votes.

Funding for the council comes from a number of sources, not only from the Department but also from the HSE and subscriptions from member and philanthropic organisations. I understand from the council that it received Exchequer funding of €571,000 in 2011, of which €528,000 came from the Department. The council has been very successful in accessing funding for special projects from a number of philanthropic organisations and other sources.

The council is undertaking a gender mainstreaming project on behalf of the HSE for which it is receiving €130,000 in the two year period 2011 to 2012. Atlantic Philanthropies has awarded €770,000 to the council for two projects beginning in early 2012. The first project, for which more than €560,000 was received, will run for a period of three years, while the second, for which €190,000 was received, will run for a period of a year and a half. These projects are contemporaneous. The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust has also awarded financial support of almost €130,000 to the council for another special project which will run for two years and which began in September 2011. The Peace 3 programme is also funding a project being delivered at a cost of over €57,000. With the exception of the Peace 3 project, all other projects will make a contribution to the core costs of the council, totalling over €85,000 in 2012.

As a membership organisation, the council also receives contributions from its constituent members which number about 166. This membership income fluctuates but typically exceeds €25,000 per annum.

In setting priorities for expenditure in the Department this year I decided that I would favour those organisations providing services over those providing, in the main, advocacy or research services. Implementation of this decision has meant some difficult choices, involving, in certain cases, the complete elimination of funding altogether and the closure of some projects.

Accompanied by officials from my Department, I met the chairperson and CEO of the council on 19 January to discuss the matter, following on correspondence with the CEO after the budget announcement. During the course of the meeting I emphasised my continued support and that of the Government for the council and my belief the council could continue to play a key role in achieving positive changes in the area of women's rights and equality. I was subsequently advised that the CEO did not feel able to continue in her post as, in her view, the €350,000 provided by the Department for this year made it impossible for her to do her job properly. The executive board of the council has appointed an acting CEO.

I have every confidence, as I said, that the council will continue to play a key role in promoting women's rights and equality and that the working relationship between the Department and the council will be maintained. It is worth noting that the council has available to it very substantial sums for 2012, with further guaranteed sums for 2013, from philanthropic organisations and also has available to it moneys for its activities which, overall, substantially exceed the moneys that may have been available to it for many years in the past.

The Minister obviously made a big impression at the meeting because the chief executive officer resigned after it. She has stated it was her personal view that the Government had shown scant regard for women's rights and her resignation was a personal protest against its indifference. This year the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, will introduce legislation on gender quotas and all political parties are committed to increasing the number of female candidates in 2014. The Minister has emphasised that the organisation is independent of the Department and it is this independence which enables it to obtain external funding. For the Minister to impose a 35% cut completely disregards other Government strategies. When did the council communicate the chief executive officer's resignation to him? What is the average reduction to other organisations which receive funding from the Department?

As the Deputy may be aware, the Government has a substantial programme in the area of women's rights. Unlike the Deputy's party, we will put in place legislation to ensure greater participation by women in electoral politics, in particular in general elections. This is legislation that would never have been contemplated by the Deputy's party in government. A very successful conference was held in Dublin Castle organised by my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch; there were so many women present that we had to provide a room to cater for the overflow of those who wished to participate. I note what the Deputy said was the statement of the chief executive officer of the council. No such statement was made by or on behalf of the board of the council. In the current financial climate €350,000, by way of a grant to an organisation which has substantial additional funds made available to it, amounts a very substantial grant.

It is how the Minister is choosing to use it.

The Deputy cannot have it both ways. He is a member of a party which destroyed the economy of the country. He knows there are substantially fewer resources available to my Department. In circumstances where I have €100 million less to meet expenditure incurred through my Department-----

The Minister makes the choices.

-----the Deputy constantly pretends there can be no reduction, regardless of the areas in which it is made.

On funding, we all know what has happened and it is regrettable that the chief executive officer felt it necessary to resign over this issue. The one aspect we could examine is multi-year funding which might alleviate some of the concerns because it is very difficult for groups which are trying to operate on a yearly budget to plan and strategise. The Department might examine the possibility of providing multi-annual funding because at least people would then know what was coming down the line and plan accordingly. If it were possible to do this, we might be able to overcome some of the concerns raised.

I do not want to comment on the resignation of the chief executive officer.

I appreciate that.

She had her own reasons for resigning. All I can say is that a very successful conference was held in Dublin Castle to address serious issues to give women an opportunity to engage in electoral politics to a far greater extent. The Government is committed to women's rights and ensuring greater participation in a broad range of areas. The Deputy might have noticed in the many appointments I have made that there has been a substantial gender rebalancing in the context of ensuring an equal number of men and women are appointed. I have been redressing imbalances in some areas in which clearly there has been a substantial number of men in circumstances where there are women available who are equally qualified. We will continue to work along these lines to achieve objectives. There is no reason the National Women's Council, as an advocacy and research body, with the funding available to it, cannot fully meet all of its commitments in 2012 and 2013.

In fairness, the question had to do with the provision of multi-annual funding.

We have to examine whether we can fund some of these organisations on a multi-annual basis. As we go through the three difficult years of 2012, 2013 and 2014 choices will have to be made as between organisations which provide services for women and those which advocate such services should be provided. We need to monitor what will happen during the course of the year to ensure we get our funding position right. Last July, conscious of the financial difficulties we would have in 2012, I wrote to the National Women's Council of Ireland to advise it in advance that it was likely its funding for 2012 would be substantially below the figure allocated in 2011. Therefore, it received a substantial warning of where the matter was going.

Top
Share