Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will respond first to Deputy Martin Kenny, who was speaking in the Dáil when I gave the figures. Up to 900 projects have been approved, with approximately €26 million spent. A total of 285 projects are awaiting approval. In the Deputy's county, Leitrim, there were 20 approvals for a total spend of €498,000. A further 25 projects are waiting to be approved for spending to the tune of €2 million. In all fairness to the programme, it takes a bit of time for it to wrap up. It takes time for applications to come in, approvals to be issued and money to be drawn down.

Implementation has been referred to. We made 31 changes to the programme. In June or July, I will be holding a forum to see what the problems are now. I met the national organisation a few months ago and its members were quite happy with the changes. Of the 31 changes the Government made, 29 have been implemented. On the programme itself, if there is anything that is creating a major problem, we will look at it again. When a problem arose in the context of bureaucracy, we looked at it and made 31 changes.

The programme is starting to move. The applications are starting to come in, but it takes a bit of time. On the overall funding for the programme for the next couple of years, I can see a Minister facing the problem of having to go back to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to ask for a substantial amount of money. That is going to happen, and Deputy Ó Cuív knows it. Having said that, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Department of Finance are cognisant of this. When I was negotiating my budget last year, it was one of the issues that was examined.