Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As a former Minister of State in the Department of Rural and Community Development, I can tell the Deputy that the rural regeneration fund which the Minister, Deputy Ring, devised and for which we secured funding represents the first large-scale fund of this type outside the Gaeltacht areas that is cross-departmental, and a number of State agencies have applied. Within my own Department, Údarás na Gaeltachta benefited from a number of projects within that such as the gTeic technology hubs in An Spidéal and other areas. It is a wonderful initiative in that groups like Údarás na Gaeltachta can apply to that fund and secure funding. It has added to the overall funding from Údarás na Gaeltachta for the year.

On the underspend, there was a capital underspend of €0.7 million which was transferred to Údarás na Gaeltachta. That was under C3, the Gaeltacht support schemes, under which a number of projects that were expected to draw down money were not available. That is capital funding; even if we were to decide to fund the chaperones, that would be from current funding. The Department provided extra sailings at additional cost to the Department to accommodate the school closure in Sherkin. As the Deputy will remember, I was there that day at the celebration, not of the school's closure, but of its being, I suppose. We funded extra sailings so we would have expected that another agency or Department would have been able to fund the chaperone. Certainly, if it was agreed upon when the decision was made to close the school, then I would expect the Department of Education and Skills should be in a position to examine the matter again. A conscious decision was made to close the school and that could not have been an easy decision for some parents to accept at the time. If there were promises or commitments given, they should be honoured by other Departments.