Ms Sheenagh Rooney:

I will endeavour to answer Deputy Collins's queries in the first instance. With regard to County Cork, eight projects were approved for funding in the first call. There were three category 1 projects and five category 2 projects. In total, for the county of Cork, almost €7 million in funding is being awarded. Recently, in the last round, there was funding awarded to the first phase of the regeneration project for Kanturk and the Briery Gap Theatre in Macroom. That is the information on projects that are being funded in that area.

The lead parties range from Cork County Council to LEADER companies in Duhallow and Blackwater. Coillte is also involved, in addition to the Office of Public Works, OPW, and Údarás na Gaeltachta. Cork is a good example of where there are good projects coming through from a variety of stakeholders. That is what we want to see.

With regard to queries people may have about their applications, we are very open to addressing them. We endeavour to do so as a result of the first call. We are planning to do it as part of the second call. We do it in two phases. First, we have our public information session, which we had during the year in response to the first call. In that, we try to bring together useful information and feedback for every applicant that is of interest to them. We have received positive feedback that the information we provide in that regard is useful. If, after the information session, people still have queries, we will be very much prepared to engage with them bilaterally. If those behind any individual project feel they have queries that are unanswered in this regard, we will be very happy to address them.

The last call involved an extremely competitive process. We are very conscious that there are communities, including in Cork, that are very happy with the outcome, but obviously there are those who are very disappointed and feel they had excellent projects that should have been funded. From our point of view, we will endeavour to answer all the queries and explain to people the reasons for the decisions. I have been through a multistage decision-making process, and in all instances we try to be fair and equal in our treatment of all parties.