Ms Phil Moore:

In the Dublin rural region we lost €1.3 million on the last programme and it was exactly as Mr. Ludlow said; it was a case of levelling the spend and then paying down. As it did not appear we were working efficiently enough, this amount of money was stopped. In 2014 there was an embargo which had a huge impact on the manner in which projects were progressing and slowed everything down. At the time we lost the €1.3 million we had approximately €850,000 worth of projects that we were not able to advance. One, in particular, was a very high profile tourism project in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown region. We were very sad to lose it.

I will talk about the supports offered under the programme. We have substantially high numbers of seniors in the catchment areas across the three counties, with whom we work under the Age Action care and repair programme. We have also established a rural challenge programme, a four module training programme. We insert a facilitator with a body of individuals who are interested in supporting seniors at local level for recreational, educational and social interaction. We have established a number of very successful groups across the full catchment area in the three local regions. It is the same in the case of arts and heritage projects. We have delivered a number of high profile arts projects, one of which is the Fingal Food Festival. Initiated in pilot scheme form four years ago, it has gone from strength to strength. Arising from it, we have listed as an action in our strategy statement establishing rural Dublin food hub as part of the programme. The programme will be rolled out strategically to allow for a circumspective spend which will be targeted and aimed at achieving what is required and needed in communities. All of the actions reflect what we have learned in the consultation process.

We must roll out our programmes in the three local authority regions. We do this through public consultation and public information provision. We have organised 17 animation events across the Dún Laoghaire, Fingal and south Dublin region, the last of which was held on 17 November. From these we have gathered expressions of interest which we have submitted for review. There is in excess of €1 million allocated. We have also identified substantial projects to be advanced.