Councillor Declan McDonnell:

Mr. Robert Collins runs the Irish regions office. The manager invited him over to address all the directors within Galway City Council and invited the Galway county manager and all of the relevant staff there as well. They had a joint meeting for three hours in Galway. It dealt with funding programmes that were available. That was the first time such a briefing took place and others have followed in several regional authorities. On 28 February in Roscommon Mr. Collins is addressing a conference with the same team. For the first time since I began on the committee I have seen a coherent effort to get awareness to local managers, whether city or county managers, and to the staff of what is available. In the good times no one bothered but now everyone is looking for funding. That is one benefit.