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

I thank Ms Rooney for her presentation. It would be wrong of me not to be truthful. There is great dismay about the RRDF, its distribution and how funds are allocated to rural communities in my own constituency of Cork South-West. We have what many feel are very strong and valuable projects, supported by Cork County Council, which have been refused funding in recent weeks. We were also refused funds in the last announcement. Indeed, I think most of County Cork was refused funding at that time and in Cork South-West there was zero funding.

I would like to delve further into the reasons. I do not begrudge any community getting from €6 million to €9 million because that is what the fund is for. Why, however, is one area funded while another is not? Sometimes there may be an issue over a project, especially when it is the lead project in the eyes of Cork County Council. Surely the issue would get ironed out in six months. I am aware that there were projects in Bandon, Clonakilty, Dunmanway, Ballinspittle, Bantry, Skibbereen, and Schull.

I would like to mention the Schull project because that was Cork County Council's lead project. My worry is that nobody refused ever got funding afterwards. Maybe I picked Ms Rooney up wrong in that regard. If so, she might clarify whether an organisation might still get funding if there was a box that was not ticked. The project in question was shovel ready a year ago.