In January the Government transferred responsibility for the administration of the grant fund for voluntary organisations which provide health-related services from the Department of Social Welfare to the Department of Health. There is approximately £1.5 million in this fund but to date there has been no sign of any plans for its distribution. This has led to financial difficulties for many voluntary organisations while many valuable projects and services have been threatened because of the lack of progress.
The Carer's Association has received no funding since last March for its programme, under which respite care and home care assistance is provided to carers in the home, and which continues to operate only because of the fund-raising efforts of the Carer's Association itself. If funding is not provided urgently the programme will collapse leading to a number of redundancies and, worse, the collapse of a most essential service in the community. This is occurring despite the fact that the Minister for Health and the Taoiseach have acknowledged the excellent contribution it has made.
The delay of five months in the distribution of the fund is unnecessary and unjustifiable. It appears there was a lack of planning. It would have made more sense to make arrangements in the Department of Health for the administration of the fund prior to making the decision to transfer it, but this did not happen. The transfer took place in January and the Department of Health is still trying to come to grips with it. It is imperative that arrangements for awarding grants is made as soon as possible. In addition, the Government must ensure this problem does not recur.
I call on the Minister to give an undertaking that grants awarded under the scheme will not prejudice other forms of funding which the organisations have already received or any such funding they may apply for in future from the Department of Health.
