Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport does not have much of a record for matching the funding that I have put in place and it is not for the want of my asking. I refer to the local improvement scheme, LIS.

Deputy Ó Cuív is a former Minister for my Department and he is right about leverage. I will outline what I have seen happen with the CLÁR programme, the rural recreation programme and some other programmes. The minute my Department directly funds a scheme the other Departments walk away. As has been said, my office is almost a year old and it will be a year old in June. I now have a good functioning Department and a team in place. As Deputy Ó Cuív will know, it takes a while and a lot of work to establish a new Department. My officials and I have done a tremendous job in one year to get all of the schemes up and running last year. I remind members that we had a small number of staff, programmes were thrown on top of us and we had no Department or offices. In less than a year we have a new team in place comprised of many fine people and we have a new director general. For the first time my Department is functioning very well. I must now start considering the schemes that have been mentioned.

As Deputy Ó Cuív will know having been Minister, I do not want the situation to continue where when my Department funds schemes that other Departments such as the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport walk away from. Every other Department walks away the minute my Department directly funds schemes. My officials must sit down with officials from all of the other Departments and ask them what they are prepared to do with rural schemes, what funding will they put in place and what can my Department do to match their funds. I do not want my Department to do their jobs and for the other Departments to use up my Department's budget but not contribute financially.