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

I thank both the Minister and Minister of State for their attendance. A couple of questions for both Ministers have been drawn to my attention. Some €339 million is available to the Department and I have no argument with the way this money is being spent. The spending areas, including the Arts Council and national cultural institutions, are vital for the whole country. There is no point in going through what the Minister has already discussed in great detail. This level of funding, and probably much more, is required. The Minister is doing the best she can with the funds available to her.

I noticed that the rural regeneration programme provided €3.5 million to the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. I am not sure for what project this money was provided. I have the details in my office; I should have brought them with me. The Department has €339 million to spend, and it could probably spend much more if it had it, but 43 community projects in Cork county alone which sought funding under the rural regeneration programme did not receive anything. How did a Department with a fund of €339 million get €3.5 million from the rural regeneration programme? Perhaps the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Ring, should answer that question. If that is the case, that is fair enough and it is a question I need to put to him. I know of one shovel-ready project that would create 20 or 30 jobs in a rural community. It is ready to roll but did not get funding, yet it sees Departments getting funding. I do not know how much Coillte got but it was many millions. This has caused great frustration. A budget of €339 million is a substantial amount of money. Is that budget being topped up with money from the rural regeneration programme? Is that included in the €339 million or is it additional? I would appreciate an answer if the Minister can provide one. If she cannot, perhaps she can come back to me. I do not want to put people on the spot but this is an important point to raise. I am trying to deal with the whole of Cork county, in which 43 projects were rejected out of hand. They were all community projects, which is very important.

I will ask another question while I have the floor, although I do not want to hog the airwaves. The Minister of State, Deputy Kyne, carried forward an underspend of €700,000 from last year. I wish I had known that money was available because the residents of eight islands in west Cork would have loved a contribution from that funding. They are probably getting something from it, but there are many genuine projects which could have used some funding. The issue of chaperones for children coming from the islands has probably been raised with the Minister of State several times. Their parents are losing work hours in the morning bringing children to and from the islands, especially Sherkin Island. An olive branch was offered to these parents to the effect that, if the school closed, a chaperone would be provided to bring the children to the school so that parents could go to work in the morning.

A lot of people are reconsidering living on an island. They might need to be at work at 8 o'clock in the morning and that cannot happen because they have to bring the children to school off the island at 9 a.m. They have to be there again at 2 p.m. or 3 p.m. to bring them back. We are losing people from the island. There is €0.7 million of an underspend. Can it be directed back towards people like that to give them a better quality of island life? I would appreciate if the Minister could give me an insight into that.