Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Three of us here are, but we will work to the line. I see that the Minister is doing that.

Most of the provisions here are small. There is an extra €12 million in total, however, which I welcome. I recognise what has been done on the local improvement schemes, but in practice, I find that the genuine list of projects that need to be done is way longer than the money that is being provided. Have any discussions taken place on the following? In the context of any road serving houses, farmland or a basic facility such as a strand or graveyard or anything else that would be done under the local improvement scheme, has anything been done to ensure that these would automatically be taken in charge once they are repaired by a council. The councils make a big fuss about taking in charge, but most small boreens require very little maintenance. We all know the old saying, "A stitch in time saves nine". Have there been any talks with the Department of Transport regarding that body's responsibility to these houses? I believe that everybody in the country is entitled to a water connection from the mains to their house, electricity, broadband and a road. They are the five fundamentals. Until 2011, it was always the Department of Transport which funded it. It was co-funded via CLÁR in the CLÁR areas on a euro-per-euro basis, but it was not given; it was contingent on the money being provided by the Department of Transport as well. That is the first question.

An issue was raised with me during the week. It is amazing how people come - and the Minister has seen this syndrome before - just as we are hitting election buttons and they think that problems are going to be solved in three weeks. They do not realise that this is the greatest downtime in government. It is very hard to get things done once the Dáil is dissolved. The person who raised the issue in question with me referred to the funding of the community development programme for the islands. I do not think that the island development companies are matched anywhere on the mainland in the range of functions they carry out. They are the hub of activity on the islands and they are the bodies that Departments consult on island issues. They are involved in all sorts of projects, way beyond what other community development projects are, because of infrastructure and service issues and so on.

I am aware that dormant accounts are not relevant to this discussion. However, in the context of such accounts, I was asked about the Yellow Flag programme. Does that come under the remit of the Department in the context of dormant accounts? Does the Department of Education have overall responsibility for dormant accounts?

That is my final question for round one.