Vol. 574 No. 3
243 Mr. McHugh asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his Department has carried out an appraisal of the application for a child care facility received from Tuam Resource Centre; if the appraisal has been positive; if a grant will be made available to the resource centre to enable the project to proceed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27078/03]
A grant application for capital assistance from the 2000-2006 equal opportunities child care programme was received from this community based group in December 2002.
All applications for grant assistance undergo a thorough assessment and appraisal process against the programme criteria by Area Development Management Limited. Large-scale projects, such as this capital development, undergo an intensive appraisal by an external building consultant. As in this case, the external appraisal can lead to recommendations to restructure proposed developments and this leads to dialogue with the group. On completion of the assessment process, applications are considered by the programme appraisal committee, chaired by my Department, for a recommendation before I make a final decision.
