Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Ó Cuív has been a public representative for a long time. He knows that some local authorities have local economic plans and they know best. On the local community development committees, LCDCs, there are representatives from the local health boards, from the education and training boards, ETBs, and elected representatives. If anybody knows what is happening on the ground, it is the elected representatives. They know where the disadvantage is and where are the needs.

We will announce the RAPID programme soon. We will read the recent Pobal report on poverty and deprivation. There will be weighting and extra funding for the areas that need it most. I wish there was more funding. It will be targeted at the areas that need it. To be fair to local authorities, which have strengths and weaknesses, one of their strengths in recent years has been working with communities and with their elected representatives. If the LCDCs, with all the different agencies and community sectors represented, do not know which areas have to be targeted, we have a real problem in the country. I have full confidence in the local authorities and the LCDCs. I think they can and will deliver. I can only speak about the last round of the scheme that I saw in my county and from what the officials tell me about the rest of the country that money was targeted at the areas that needed it.