Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Does the Minister not think that sounds absolutely bonkers? I understand that most of the rural areas are covered by an LAG. Therefore there is an indicative population number per LAG. I think it is somewhere around 77,000, if I am correct. The population of the whole of Galway is greater than that, but the issue is that the direction given to all three companies was that there would be one LAG for the whole of Galway to be administered through the LCDC. What the Minister is saying now is that halfway through the process, it was decided by somebody - I am not sure who - that the LAG could be split up, with the result that the municipal district of Connemara has been awarded to FORUM Connemara Limited and subsequently we have heard of a new competition for the rest of the county, which is going to mean at least one more LAG or two if Comhar na nOileán Teoranta is successful in contesting the Oranmore area. We could end up under this process with three LAGs, which is what people asked for initially, but three LAGs in almost the wrong places.

It just seems absolutely bonkers. It seems totally illogical, it is really disenfranchising the islanders and it is breaking up the tradition, the hard work and the continuity of the work that was done by Comhar na nOileán Teoranta. The powers have transferred from the then Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. We flagged these issues and that this was a danger way back when the Bill was being debated by the then Minister, Phil Hogan, in the Seanad and the Dáil. Surely, the Minister could admit that this hames of a solution needs to be rectified for the good of the people locally who are trying to put projects forward.