Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There is €188 million for arts, culture and film. Will the Minister give a breakdown of that figure? West Cork is a great centre of arts and culture activity but its budget has been extremely low in recent years. There is some disquiet among the people who are working tirelessly there. They feel the budget should have been increased, so perhaps the Minister will give a breakdown of it.

In addition, the Minister said the Leader programme is going well. Perhaps she will explain what she means by that. What is the overall budget for Leader? Not a cent has been spent on the ground under Leader. It cannot be going well when no funds are being made available to community groups.

I was astounded to find out today that my part of west Cork will now be serviced under the Aran Islands to deliver the programme. I refer to west Cork, which has suffered from severe cuts in recent years. We lost our West Cork Development Partnership recently. How can a place as far away as the Aran Islands - no disrespect to those living on the Aran Islands - deliver to west Cork? It would be similar to someone in Skibbereen delivering a programme to the Minister's constituency that was previously delivered in her constituency. It is a huge issue for west Cork. I got an e-mail this morning telling us that the new deliverers for the west Cork Leader programme will be Avondhu Blackwater Partnership, the South and East Cork Area Development Partnership, SECAD, and Comhar na nOileán. When I went in to check into that further I found out that if I want to discuss any Leader funding issue in the future, it will have to be done through the Aran Islands. That is unacceptable. The Minister is in charge of this and I have to get answers for the people of west Cork because this is astounding, to say the least. To think that a Leader group on the border of Limerick will be delivering to the remainder of west Cork is unacceptable

I want to ask the Minister a straight question and I want a straight answer. What has the Government and its predecessor got against the people of west Cork because it has been hit repeatedly? We have lost our Garda stations. We have lost some post offices. Our banks have been closed and now our Leader programme, the only shining light we had in west Cork, is gone. I pleaded with the Minister prior to the summer recess to try to bring about a resolution to this issue but the crisis has worsened. There is no delivery. There is no idea how we will deliver. We do not know who will deliver the programme. We do not know who to speak to about projects in west Cork. If that is replicated throughout Ireland, this Leader programme is in tatters. We need answers, and I have called for those answers over the past six or seven weeks. This is my first opportunity to speak, and I have every right to speak on behalf of my constituents and the people of west Cork. It is my duty to do that, and I want to know why west Cork has been treated in this way.

As far as I am aware, there was a call recently for expressions of interest for east Galway. I wish the people of east Galway the best of luck, but what is the difference here? How many expressions of interests has the Minister received because it was to her office these calls were made? What is the difference between east Galway and west Cork? Why has west Cork been left without a Leader programme and Leader delivery in the future?