Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Unlike Deputy Burke, I do not believe in inspecting everything but I do believe in the odd spot check. I saw work that was funded by Departments that was very badly done. It is important and to be honest, it is just good practice.

While the onus is on the local authorities to spend, the onus is on the Minister not to give more money to those who do not spend. As the saying goes, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. If there are people who are not spending or who have not spent the money, it is absolutely vital for the Minister to give it to someone else who will spend it. In that context, I refer to the Leader programme. First, I must take issue with the assertion that the administrative costs of the previous Leader programme amounted to 50%. Obviously, at the very beginning of the programme, administrative costs represent a very high percentage of overall costs. At the moment, for example, they will be running at 80% or 90%. However, administrative costs level off at around 20% across the programme. That has not changed over many Leader programmes and we must correct the record in that regard.