Vol. 462 No. 8
4 Mrs. O'Rourke asked the Taoiseach the additional departmental responsibilities he has acquired, or existing ones that have been passed to another Department since he took office other than those announced in December 1994. [5562/96]
The two existing functions transferred in respect of the Department since the Taoiseach came into office are community employment in designated partnership areas, responsibility for which was transferred to the Department of Enterprise and Employment under a transfer of functions order on 6 February 1996, and access to the offshore islands which is now the responsibility of the Minister of State, Deputy Carey. Arrangements are being put in place to transfer functions under the Aran Islands Transport Act, 1946, from the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications to the Minister of State, Deputy Carey.
In addition, my Department has acquired responsibility for the following new functions: the Devolution Commission for Local Government Reform, established in July 1995; the development of a national anti-poverty strategy, in association with the Department of Social Welfare, in line with the commitment given at the UN Social Summit in Copenhagen; a review of the administration of development programmes in the Border counties, with a view to maximising their effectiveness; and responsibility for co-funding those parts of the EU programme for peace and reconciliation for which ADM has been designated as the intermediary.
Last February the Minister said that responsibility for community employment had been transferred from the Department of the Taoiseach to the Department of Enterprise and Employment.
In designated partnership areas.
Did this transfer take effect recently? I understood that the Minister of State had responsibility for these areas. Why was it decided to remove them from his able hands to the Department of Enterprise and Employment?
The Deputy is correct in saying I have responsibility for the partnership areas. The community employment scheme was, by and large, administered by the Department of Enterprise and Employment but the element of its budget which was applied in partnership areas was implemented by the Department of the Taoiseach under my supervision. It was considered more efficient and effective to have the community employment scheme administered by one Department.
The Minister was stripped of his powers.
The scheme is probably administered equitably as well.
On several occasions, in newspapers and in the Dáil, the Minister went through the whole matter of community employment in partnership areas. He has done well for his own constituency in this matter. Is he no longer responsible for community employment in the partnership area boards? If this is the case, there is an enormous mix up of responsibilities with regard to community employment. I would like a reasonable explanation of the purpose of this shifting forwards and backwards.
As the Deputy will know from having served as a Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise and Employment, the chief executive of FÁS reports to the Minister for Enterprise and Employment. FÁS is closely involved with the community employment scheme. It was thought that it would be more efficient and effective to have the scheme administered by one Department.
Does the Minister have any responsibility for the scheme now?
I have nothing to do with it.
Thank God for that, especially from a Cork perspective.
The Minister disbursed the money before responsibility for the scheme was transferred from him.
I did not disburse any money from this scheme in my constituency. It received discretionary funds but did not receive half as much as it was entitled to get.
Is it not the truth that the Minister of State's functions in this regard have been stripped from him as a disciplinary matter and have been handed to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, because the other parties in the coalition were dissatisfied with his record on the allocation of funds?
It is a neat explanation.
This decision was taken on 6 February 1996.
After the controversy.
It has nothing to do with the administration of discretionary funds. Since there is such a lack of knowledge about the local development scheme I promised in the House I would hold a seminar on local development. I have since set a date for that seminar. I invited Members of the House, and I hope Deputy McDowell will take time to attend because it is clear he does not understand the difference between community employment, local partnership schemes and discretionary funds. Community employment is administered by FÁS. I have never had any hand, act or part in administering individual grants in mine or in anybody else's constituency. If the Deputy comes to the seminar he may learn something about local development, although I do not think the Deputy will spend too much time in the deprived parts of Dublin helping to administer the plan.
As a representative of areas of high disadvantage on the south side of the city of Cork, it is with some relief that I hear that the Minister of State has been stripped of some of his powers, given that under the urban renewal programme he deprived the south side of Cork which had originally been eligible under that programme.
The Deputy should not personalise matters.
The Minister of State also behaved in a most discriminatory manner against other regions. We do not need seminars; we need funds for community groups in my city, particularly on the south side of Cork. In regard to stage 2, the Minister should not again eliminate the south side of the city of Cork.
Matters appertaining to Cork surely merit separate questions.
This question does not relate to everything, including the kitchen sink. It refers to community employment and it is clear that not many Deputies know much about the system.
I know all about it.
I understand that a review of devolution of local authority powers is being carried out and surely it would be more appropriate if the Minister for the Environment chaired that review rather than a Minister from the Taoiseach's Department. When does the Minister of State expect that review to be completed, and will it be published?
I will communicate with the Deputy as soon as I have a date. The Taoiseach's Department is the right place for this to be located because it covers a cross-section of Departments and requires a co-ordinating role. It also requires the authority of the Taoiseach.
