Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have allocated €1.4 million to Tidy Towns this year. As I said earlier, it is the first time that any Government has given Tidy Towns recognition. We would like to give it more money but we do not have it. It is a recognition of the fantastic work done by Tidy Towns. It goes down well as people all over the country appreciate it. The funding will help Tidy Towns with projects so it does not need to be out fund raising for them. It is just a recognition of the work it does do.

A point was raised about LEADER. To date, LEADER has ramped up. In fact, it is causing me a problem because we had €30 million in the budget for this year and to date, we have paid out €33.3 million and expect to go over €40 million this year so I will have to re-profile some of the money within the Department to meet the demand. I will have €5 million in the next few weeks and will announce this extra funding for the LEADER companies. I will reward the top ten companies and at the end of the year, look at the ones that are not doing so well and re-profile that money as well.