Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Arís, táim ag iarraidh mo dhíomá a léiriú maidir leis an athrú ar an chlár inniu, nach mbeidh muid ag plé an Bhille a bhaineann le leas ainmhithe. I am disappointed we will not have the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Coveney, in the House today to debate the Animal Health and Welfare Bill. I agree with Senator O'Brien that he is one of the better attendees in the Seanad, but it is disappointing that he will not be here today. This indicates that there are problems in the Department. There have been particular difficulties over the past number of months, but the fact that no Minister of State has been appointed since the death of Shane McEntee shows that the Government needs to step up its operations and appoint somebody as quickly as possible so that the pressure can be taken off the Minister and so that somebody can come in here to debate issues. It is not good enough that debates are postponed and that other priorities such as the Presidency of the Council of the European Union take precedence over this House. The Government needs to ensure that we discuss all the legislation that is coming through.

On that note, I call again for a debate on the Leader programme, which is in disarray currently. There has been great uncertainty over the past year or so, particularly in Gaeltacht areas. Since the demise of Meitheal Forbartha na Gaeltachta, MFG, we have been unclear as to how much funding is still available and how much funding needs to be drawn down. A stop was put on spending under the Leader programme over the past number of months, but this was reversed, to a certain extent, just two weeks ago. However, it is still very unclear for the companies in question where they stand with regard to funding towards the end of the year and where they stand vis-à-vis the Minister's plans to try to have them subsumed into the county councils. There is great disquiet on the ground about that.

We need clarity as to whether the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, will allow the matching funding be made available so that we can draw down the full allocation from Europe. Time is running out on this issue and it is important that the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, come to the House to debate the issue. Many of the projects that have been submitted for Leader have time constraints on them and if decisions are not made quickly and efficiently, some of them will fall by the wayside. We cannot afford to allow that happen, particularly in rural areas where we need every venture we can get to help boost the economy and keep jobs afloat. We need these to happen as quickly as possible and I call for an urgent debate on the issue.