The Week in Politics; Water Charges, 38% Cuts, Garda Report and Teachers Stoppages

The Leaders’ Question I didn’t get to ask got some good coverage – Last night I spoke to Ainé Lawlor on RTE 1; The Week in Politics and discussed the 38% Cuts to community groups along with Water Charges, the Garda Report and Teachers Stoppages. For those who missed it take a look at the clip below. The question concerned the possible 38% cuts to community groups in the inner city (compared with 10% in rural areas and 20% in urban areas). No one wants cuts but 38% is massively disproportionate when we think of the areas most affected – areas much higher than national average when it comes to employment, very significant numbers of disadvantaged families, lone parents, new communities – all the groups the Social Inclusion Programme says it is targetting. My questions would have been to ask the Tanaiste to ensure that Minister Kelly honours his commitments to give the Dublin alliance of groups the allocation model on which the funding is determined and also a date to meet these groups.