Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 January 2014
333. Deputy Patrick Nulty asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the reason he has granted €45,000 for 2014 for three projects to the Consumers Association of Ireland when it only spent 58% of its 2013 funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3982/14]
View answerAn application for a grant payment of €45,000 from the Consumers’ Association of Ireland was approved by me in December 2013. The funding will be used by the Consumers’ Association of Ireland for an IT project that entails a system and software upgrade of the IT system to equip it for SEPA compliance and also to integrate the membership and marketing functions to enable staff members to easily and effectively manage interactions with current and future customers by using technology to organise sales, marketing, customer service, PR and social media monitoring and engagement. The Consumers’ Association of Ireland signed a grant agreement in respect of the funding of €45,000 with my Department before the funds were paid out.
On 10 January last, the Consumers’ Association of Ireland informed my Department that they would not spend an approximate sum of €19,846.90 from the grant payment paid to them by my Department in December 2012. This arose from a VAT calculation which did not apply to the tenderer for the work sought by the Association, an underspend on the original estimate of costs for the work and a contribution from the Association towards the cost of the overheads for the work. Until the CAI discharges the final invoice for the contractor (which is expected in late February), the CAI cannot refund any monies to the Department. The project funded in 2013 is a different project to that funded in 2012.
