Agency ‘confused’ about its purpose

A State agency responsible for administering €300m in local development programmes is confused about its purpose and who is responsible for which roles, a review has found.

Pobal, which administers funding schemes such as the Rural Transport Programme, Early Childhood Care and Education Programme, and the RAPID programme for disadvantaged areas, also has too many offices and high administrative costs.

Ironically, for a body trusted with evaluating funding programmes, the review also found: “It is difficult to judge Pobal’s effectiveness as an organisation because it does not yet report on the impact of its own activities.”