ANTI-DRUGS FUNDING OF 1 MILLION IEP COULD BE AT RISK

YOUTH groups could lose out on 1 million IEP worth of funding to tackle
drug abuse after the deadline for applications was set at the height of the
holiday season.

Cork city councillor John Kelleher has called for officials to be more
flexible as the target organisations, most of them voluntary, attempt to
rally members and prepare the detailed submission demanded before time runs
out on September 4.

"It's unfortunate that groups have been asked to do this in August when
most of them take a break. I get the feeling there may be groups who can
not get their teeth into this at this time," he said.

The new fund, the Young People's Facilities and Services Fund, has 20
million IEP to distribute throughout 13 task force areas in Cork, Dublin,
Limerick and Waterford, up to 2 million IEP of which has been earmarked for
the Cork Task Force Area on the city's northside. The money is to be used
over the next three years to improve and augment local services and
facilities for young people in the 10 to 21 age group at risk of falling
victim to drug abuse.

It will specifically target young people already in trouble with the law or
known to be dabbling in drugs along with those from disadvantaged areas and
early school leavers.

Projects eligible for funding include training schemes, leisure facilities
and education programmes and applications have been invited from all local
voluntary and community groups working with young people.

A local development group has had to be set up in each area to administer
the funding locally and the Cork city group has imposed a September 4
deadline for applications to that it can prepare its own detailed action
plan for submission to Government by September 30.

Cllr Kelleher said he would be asking the city manager to extend the
deadline but pointed out he could only formally make the request in
September as their meetings were also suspended because of the annual
summer break.

He said he feared there would be no chance of flexibility at national level
because of the need to begin allocating funds within the current budget and
that some groups could lose out as a result.

"The applications have to go from the various groups here to the local
development group in Cork and then to a national assessment committee.
After that they go to the a cabinet sub-committee and finally to the
cabinet, all before the end of the year. It puts everyone under a lot of
pressure," Cllr Kelleher.

There are additional difficulties for applicants hoping for funding because
the guidelines stress preference will be given to projects run in
partnership with other organisations and programmes, necessitating detailed
discussion between groups. Applicants are also being asked to provide
details of where they can source matching funding from other state agencies
and how they intend funding their project once the three-year support
period is up and the time factor is again proving prohibitive in this aspect.

The local development group in Cork, which comprises members of the Cork
Drugs Task Force, Cork Corporation and Cork Vocational Education Committee,
has said it will help groups applying for funding by making specialist
staff available to them on request to assist in preparing their submissions.

Checked-by: Ghamal de la Guardia