"Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free". - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
*Important,
Let me explain the public money trail behind the viral advert about grandparents hugging their grandchildren.
Four Organisations keep appearing:
1. CUAN,
2. Community Foundation Ireland,
3. Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, and
4. We-Consent.
1. Cuan is the State agency.
Established in January 2024 to fund and coordinate domestic and sexual violence services, set standards, and run awareness campaigns.
It sits inside the Dept. of Justice
Its funding has risen from โฌ58.6 million in 2024 to โฌ84.4 million allocation for 2027 (+44% increase in three years!)
At end of 2024 it had 28 employees. That year it spent roughly โฌ3 million on staff, administration and board costs + another โฌ4.2 million on awareness campaigns.
In 2025 it allocated โฌ58.36 million to 78 organisations (see pic below).
2. Community Foundation Ireland
Denise Charlton is CEO of Community Foundation.
She also sits on CUAN's statutory board, and is a named member of We-Consentโs advisory group.
Community Foundation Ireland helped fund the original We-Consent campaign (launched 2023 by DRCC, with Dept of Justice support).
Other CUAN board members also lead or sit on organisations that receive Cuan grants (including Womenโs Aid and Galway Rape Crisis Centre and others).
These links are publicly disclosed. They are not evidence of wrongdoing. Everything here is above board.
But they do raise ordinary public-interest questions about conflict declarations, recusals, and how core grants are renewed versus the smaller open funding call (โฌ3.2m in 2025).
3. We-Consent
We-Consent is a DRCC project, not a separate State body.
The precise cost, production details, and evaluation of this particular grandparents advert are not publicly broken out.
4. ***IMPORTANT**
Dublin Rape Crisis Centre does important work.
Supporting survivors and teaching boundaries are not in dispute.
But my question here is:
What measurable improvement has this new agency structure, CUAN, delivered per euro spent, and where is the independent comparison with the previous system?
*The graphic below shows how โฌ58.3million was distributed in 2025. CUAN's total budget allocation for 2027 is โฌ85million.
@Nick_Delehanty State can provide funding for gay piss-ups, but not for a straight, middle-aged heterosexual man's special needs child. Who's the entitled one?