The Coalition Government is in the process of creating a political slush fund from dormant deposit and insurance accounts.
It is a shabby piece of work. And it runs directly counter to undertakings given by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, three years ago, when the Dáil passed the relevant legislation. On that occasion, Mr McCreevy said the unclaimed money would be allocated to deserving projects by a special Dormant Accounts Fund Disbursements Board so as to avoid any suggestion that the Government was operating a political slush fund. Now that decision has been overturned.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has explained the change is being made in the interests of transparency. And the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Éamon Ó Cuív, said removal of the decision-making process from the Disbursement Board would make the process more efficient and effective. Better co-ordination, he suggested, could be provided at departmental level. It is nonsense. The central issue is money, very large amounts of it. This is nothing less than a blatant smash-and-grab raid on funds that do not belong to the State in order to bolster the images of Government ministers and their parties in constituencies.
On the last occasion something like this happened, Lotto profits - intended for the development of sport - were diverted to pet ministerial projects and to support departmental spending in education and other areas. Pressure from the Progressive Democrats caused that system to be reformed. But the lesson appears to have been forgotten in the rush by some ministers to get their hands on an estimated 500 million.
To date, some 150 million has been sequestered. The Disbursements Board, which was established in 2002, has already invited groups or organisations working in the area of economic, social or educational disadvantage, or groups representing persons with a disability, to apply for money. Now that power of allocation is being removed and the board will only be able to comment on decisions taken elsewhere. The change will also impact on the influence and authority of the voluntary, community and disability sectors, which are heavily represented on the board.
Five years ago, this special fund for community development was proposed by the Dáil Committee of Public Accounts when it reported on the DIRT scandal. The initiative was to have represented a brave new start in a grey world. And it was given a fair wind by Mr McCreevy. Since then, political opportunism and the lure of a slush fund has caused a change of mind.