Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 July 2014
540. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will reconsider a decision not to provide funding for Deaforward, an essential support service for the deaf community; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Deaforward office must now close as a result; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29720/14]
View answer544. Deputy Joe Higgins asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will reverse the budget cut to the National Deaf Advocacy Service of the Irish Deaf Society; if his attention has been drawn to the levels of social exclusion and difficulties in accessing essential public services that the deaf community face; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29776/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 540 and 544 together.
The funding scheme to support national organisations in the community and voluntary sector aims to provide multi-annual funding to national organisations towards core costs associated with the provision of services. A new round of funding was advertised for applications earlier this year. I asked Pobal to undertake an assessment of the applications received, given that organisation's significant experience and expertise of both the design of assessment criteria and completion of assessment functions. I was anxious to make funding available to as many organisations as possible within the prevailing resource constraints and I approved 55 applications for funding for the two-year period from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2016. The Irish Deaf Society is not one of the organisations approved for funding on this occasion.
Pobal has put in place a dedicated team to deal with any inquiries from applicants and to provide detailed feedback. There is also an appeals process and Pobal has provided applicants with detailed information on this process. As this appeals process is now live, it would not be appropriate for me to make any further comment on the funding process or on the application of any particular organisation.
