Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. Scarriff received €524,000 for a project under the rural regeneration and development fund that has just been announced. There are projects that have not been successful and I know people are disappointed. Sometimes the projects do not just fit into the criteria. Perhaps there are other sources of funding that are more suited for certain aspects of projects. My officials are meeting applicants who were unsuccessful in the category 2 call. They are happy to meet them, go through all of it with them and find out where the applications fell down. When these applications come in they are assessed by an independent panel. Some of them are multipurpose applications that have various aspects and some of those aspects are outside my remit. For example, they may fall into the tourism category and they do not hit the bar or meet the criteria. What I would say to anybody who has been unsuccessful is not to lose heart. They should go back to the officials and speak to them and look again at the application. On many occasions I have seen where an application can be tweaked and changed to make it a much stronger application.

I compliment Clare County Council. I visited it last year. It launched a digital strategy and Urban McMahon was hugely involved. I have been saying that it is an example for other county councils to follow. It is a wonderful digital strategy. It encompasses everything. Clare is probably ahead of the rest of us in terms of what it is doing in this regard. I will be happy to go back down. The Deputy mentioned a few projects including Lahinch Seaworld and Leisure Centre and the walk in Ennistymon. I will certainly be back to visit Clare. There is no doubt about it. I would love to be going in the summer but I will have to let the officials decide when it will suit or when I should go. Certainly I will be happy to go back down. I had a very busy day the last time I was in Clare. There is a lot happening. I compliment everybody involved. Whether they are in the local community or local authority they are certainly not lacking in ambition when it comes to submitting applications.

With regard to the local improvement scheme, the former Minister, Deputy Ring, reopened the scheme. It had been closed. Fair play to him, he reopened it and we have been able to fund it. There is no doubt that it is about roads. I will follow up again with the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan. Perhaps he can give us a bit of help. It would all add up and it would mean that we can get rid of the very long list. If the committee saw fit to write to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, it would be useful. If he were able to match some of the funding I am providing it would make a big difference.