From the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland website
This morning.
It’s being reported that 302 homeowners who had been promised grant funding under the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland’s deep retrofit scheme – a scheme aimed at improving the energy efficiency ratings of older homes – will now not receive their funding.
RTÉ journalist Philip Boucher-Hayes has tweeted his thoughts…
Hundreds of homeowners to lose out on retrofit grants (The Irish Times)
Former CEO of the FAI John Delaney
🚨 One of the Topical Issues chosen for debate in the Dáil later is the State’s part-funding of the FAI, and whether it should be contingent on an independent audit of FAI finances… up for discussion after 5:30pm
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) March 28, 2019
^ This is likely to be 5:45pm
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) March 28, 2019
Watch Dáil proceedings live here
Earlier: Gauntlet Thrown
Top (from left): Journalist Ken Foxe, document he obtained under FOI, and Minister for Rural and Community Development Michael Ring
Last Sunday.
Ken Foxe, in both The Sunday Times and the Irish Mail on Sunday reported that the Minister for Rural and Community Development Michael Ring allocated almost €120,000 to a project – involving pedal-powered carriages on a disused railway line – in his constituency “despite warnings from civil servants it could set ‘problematic precedents'”.
Mr Foxe reported: “One official said the project appeared to have the least merit of four proposals that were seeking extra funding.”
He also wrote the Kiltimagh Velo project received the single largest funding allocation of any local authority project last year.
Further to this…
Yesterday evening…
Mr Ring spoke to Midwest Radio about the project and said he wouldn’t be apologising to Mr Foxe, the Irish Daily Mail [sic] or The Sunday Times for any decision he makes regarding funding allocations.
From the interview…
“First of all, I have to say, that I’m the minister of the department and I make the decisions, as minister. That was Ken Foxe and the Daily Mail and The Sunday Times. I didn’t see Ken Foxe reporting that I gave €2million to inner city Dublin before Christmas in relation to projects that need to be done there – particularly in disadvantaged areas.
“But when a few euros come to Mayo, they seem to have a major problem with it. Ken Foxe and the Daily Mail and The Sunday Times seem to have a problem with any funding coming into Mayo, so, in future now, do I have to correspond with Ken Foxe and anybody else when I’m putting funding into Mayo.
“The answer to that is no. I will make the decisions as I make the decisions…
“…I make decisions on the basis of the decisions that come before me and I have no problem making big decisions, that’s my job, as minister. I make decisions every single day.
“I make decisions in relation to my department and I will continue to do that and I won’t be apologising to Ken Foxe, I won’t be apologising to the Daily Mail, and I won’t be apologising to The Sunday Times and I won’t be apologising to anybody in relation to any decisions of allocations of money I make in rural Ireland.”
Ring freewheels into ‘problematic’ Mayo funding row (Ken Foxe, The Sunday Times)
Mary Higgins, of Caranua
Ellen Coyne, in today’s Times Ireland edition, reports:
Caranua spent hundreds of thousands of euros from a fund for survivors of institutional abuse without permission, the Department of Education has confirmed.
Mary Higgins, the chief executive of Caranua, had suggested that figures relating to the contracts were not “up to date” after The Times reported them.
Yesterday a spokesman for the department said that The Times story was accurate. “There was no issue with the original information,” he said.
Caranua administers a €110 million fund set up to pay for the health, housing and educational needs of survivors. The state agency’s only function is to divide the money between applicants and its own administrative costs also come from the fund.
… There is no record of the Department of Education approving any spending for Caranua for the past two years despite some board members saying that lists of administrative contracts about to be entered into were discussed at meetings in the past 24 months.
In an interview last month on Newstalk Ms Higgins rejected criticism of her agency spending money without permission and claimed that the department records were not up to date.
Caranua spent funds without permission, officials confirm (The Times, Ireland edition)
The Music Capital Scheme, administered by Music Network, is back open, with a reserve of €210,000 available for instruments for skilled, professional musicians, and community music groups.
Write Music Network:
The Music Capital Scheme, established by the Arts Council, supported by the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and managed by Music Network, comprises two distinct awards that provide funding for the purchase of musical instruments to both non-professional performing groups and to professional musicians.
The Music Capital Scheme has funded 227 musicians, groups and organisations, benefitting up to 30,819 people throughout Ireland since its inception in 2008.
The scheme opens for applications on November 30th, deadlines January 25th, with clinics from Music Network around the country in the second week of January.
It’s on.
Finally.
The Dublin Cycling Campaign writes:
Cycling continues to get the crumbs at the table when it comes to overall national transport spend. Of the €10billion allocated for transport investment in the Capital Investment Plan for 2016-2021, active travel (encompassing walking, cycling and other such measures) is allocated just €100million.
That means that cycling is to receive approx 0.5% (half of one percent!) of the transport pie. If that wasn’t bad enough, we heard in the last few weeks of further cutbacks in future funding for cycling projects for Dublin City Council by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport – as reported on Irishcycle.com.
This all comes at a time when we have had nine cyclist fatalities in Ireland this year already, the most recent of which was the tragic death of Donna Fox at the junction between Seville Place and Guild Street in the north inner city.
Dublin Cycling Campaign is calling on everyone who uses a bike in Dublin – for transportation or for leisure – to join our protest on Monday 3rd October so as to send a loud-and-clear message to the Minister that he needs to recognise that the status quo is not good enough – cycling needs proper funding to make it safer and to enable Dublin to reach its potential as a world class cycling city.
We are calling on the Minister to allocate cycling a better share.
Gulp.
Cycle Protest to Demand Proper Funding for Cycling! (Dublin Cycling Campaign)
Poster: Andrea Figueira
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OusZD6olPqI
Mild mannered, if sweary, Intercom CEO Eoghan McCabe discusses landing $50 million in funding for the costumer communication firm he founded seven years ago.
He’s bit of a ledge in the ‘Valley’.
$50 million.
Think of what we could do with 50 big ones.
New beanbags for a start.
Customer communication startup Intercom raises $50M (TechCrunch)
Thanks Kevin Whitty
The halting site in Carrickmines at the weekend, following a fatal fire which claimed ten lives
Kitty Holland (“Councils must do more for Travellers after fire”, Analysis, October 12th) lists the failure of local authorities across the State to make progress in relation to the provision of decent accommodation for Travellers.
I worked for two years as manager of the Southside Travellers Action Group and the problems listed by your reporter correspond almost exactly with those we faced 15 years ago. There is one key difference, however. At that time, no funds of any substance were provided by central government to local authorities for Traveller accommodation.
Successful lobbying by Traveller organisations, such as the Irish Traveller Movement and Pavee Point, resulted in a change in the funding approach by central government around 2006. Money was made available to local authorities.
Since then, shamefully, over €50 million allocated by the Department of the Environment for Traveller Accommodation remains unspent. €50 million!
The need for decent accommodation is obvious and the pictures and stories emerging from the tragedy in Carrickmines are clear proof of the need for radical action.
Local authorities that fail to spend their allocated budgets in this regard should face penalties and those councillors who continue to oppose Traveller accommodation plans should be shown the door at the next local elections.Are we going to allow another generation of Traveller children to grow up in these conditions or are we going to attempt to create a fairer society for all of our children?
Aodh O’Connor
Perrystown,
Dublin 12.
Meanwhile, on Morning Ireland this morning, Tánaiste Joan Burton said:
“Can I appeal to all members of local authorities right around the country to please use the funds which have been made available by central government to local authorities for Traveller accommodation. Some local authorities, including the local authority where this dreadful tragic fire [in Carrickmines] took place, those funds have actually not been used. If the funds are use, I can say there will be an undertaking to provide additional funds.”
Local authorities and Travellers (Irish Times)
Previously: Halting Funding
Heard The One About Local Authorities Refusing Money?
Rollingnews.ie
Just got a LinkedIn message “A call for help from Eamon Ryan” Greens_need_means money ask email. cc @broadsheet_ie pic.twitter.com/XnLW4lvtk1
— Damien MuÎley [ ☰ ] (@damienmulley) March 7, 2015
A Kickstarter campaign by talented bodypainter Paul Roustan to promote his 290-page book and fairly impressive skills.