Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will keep this as brief as possible. There were 32 recommendations in the report of the Commission for the Economic Development of Rural Areas, CEDRA, which falls within the remit of the Minister's Department. The Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, has a particular role in this area. There is a concern that Pat Spillane and the committee went away, put together a good report, came back with it but, as I understand it, there is not much allocated for this year. A figure of €1 million has been mentioned. Are there any plans to ramp this up, given the pressure that rural Ireland, in particular, is under? Has consideration been given by the Government to this issue?

The funding for the group schemes is down to €17 million this year. That is a drop of about €10 million or €11 million on last year. Is there a concern about this? Will it meet the needs of the group schemes?

On the local government fund, what is the overall figure for the amount collected in local property tax in 2014? I am looking at the local government fund figures. It is made up €440 million from the local property tax. A full collection would have brought in approximately €530 million. I am open to correction on this. This figure is fairly similar to Fianna Fáil's figure. A figure of €440 million has been pencilled in for it. If there is a balance, where did it go? Some 80% of the tax is supposed to stay with the local authority. The other 20%, from the better off local authorities, is supposed to be distributed to more rural counties such as Leitrim. What has happened? There is potentially €100 million as láthair.

Some €1.167 billion in road tax is being collected. Another €223 million is coming from the Exchequer. This gives a total income of €1.85 billion in the local government fund. There may be a good explanation for the payments out, but some €459 million is due to be disbursed under the local property tax allocation. I am referring to both last year's and this year's figures as they will be roughly the same. Some €364 million is allocated for what is called local and county roads. This brings the expenditure figure up to €823 million. Some €1.85 billion is coming in and €823 million is going out. There is about €1 billion or so to be accounted for. A sum of €484 million of that is accounted for because it is fed back to the Exchequer. Therefore, €459 million is disbursed under the local property tax heading, €364 million is disbursed under the local and county roads heading and €484 million is being sent back to the Exchequer. It presumably goes into something such as housing. However, this brings the figures up to approximately €1.3 billion. There is approximately €550 million missing. Will someone please tell me where it is gone?

We all know that local governments are starved of funds. We are always speaking about it and how to fund them. We have a gap of €500 million. Where is it gone? Why is it not going to local authorities? This money is collected through motor tax for roads. It is collected through the local property tax because, as the Minister and his predecessors have always stated, it is for footpaths, lighting, libraries and parks.

Will the Minister also comment on the EUROSTAT issue? An official from EUROSTAT was quoted recently in the "paper of record".