The European Commission has expressed satisfaction with the way the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children used EU funds.
The ISPCC has received funding under the £3 million Daphne programme for child protection. The Commission does not reveal the amount given to specific projects, but The Irish Times has learned that a total of £87,000 was given over two years for two projects. The society was a lead agency in the projects, which involved other Irish and EU groups.
The initial grant was used for an anti-corporal-punishment campaign, and the second was a "parent pack" for parents of abused children, which also involved Dundalk Women's Aid, the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and Scottish charities.
The Fine Gael MEP, Ms Mary Banotti, said that following the recent controversy over the ISPCC, she made inquiries to the Commission and was informed that the society had been contacted by the Commission. The Commission had been reassured that "all monies relating to the Daphne projects were kept in a separate account and had not been transferred for general purposes to the ISPCC".
The Commission was subsequently satisfied on the basis of accounts received from the ISPCC which were certified by auditors. Ms Banotti said she was happy to be "reassured by the Commission that monies, which were considerable, which were granted to the ISPCC and their partners, have been through a preliminary audit and are satisfactory".
Ms Anita Gradin is the Commissioner responsible for the Daphne programme. In response to questions about the ISPCC, she confirmed the Commission had supported the society in two projects concerning the issue of physical punishment of children, the first under the Daphne programme in 1997 and the second the following year.
Both programmes involved NGOs in other countries, as well as the ISPCC, such as the Danish National Council for Children's Rights and the European Network of Ombudspeople for Children.
Ms Gradin said the Commission did not, as a matter of policy, disclose to third parties the amount of financial support granted for specific projects. The Daphne programme supports NGOs to combat all violence against children, young people and women, she said.