Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all those who made presentations today and at our last meeting. There were some very interesting presentations. Much of this debate is based on connectivity. If there is no connectivity, particularly broadband but also mobile phone coverage, it is very difficult to run any type of business.

It is a major issue in my constituency of Cork South-West. Much of it has to do with getting funds from the Government and getting off the ground. It is about making a start. If people can receive support in getting broadband and the funding right, they can start to go places. I see it in Skibbereen with the Ludgate Hub. It is getting the funding it needs and its feet off the ground. It is getting places. However, there is a vacuum in the surrounds of my constituency. I can only speak on its behalf.

Details of the rural regeneration and development fund were released last week. There is nowhere more rural than south-west Cork, as anybody who has been there knows. It is beautiful in the summer, but it must fight on rural matters. There were 48 projects proposed by Cork County Council and we got zero. Therefore, I am right to be very angered. I met some of the community groups over the weekend and they are incensed because they ticked all of the boxes. I looked at those that had received money and some of them were great. I would not take anything from them. However, I can pick out some that are not so great. Coillte received €10 million, but it has its own funds. The Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht received €3.5 million and it also has its own funds. Why are we dipping into the rural generation and development fund to fund these bodies and Departments? Is the overspend on the national children's hospital project the problem and is this a back-door method to top up funding? The problem is that of the 48 projects, most of which are in my constituency but some are in the rest of Cork county, zero was approved. I could name some of them.