Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)

I join with my colleagues from Meath in saying how important local improvement schemes are to Kildare and to rural Kildare in particular. However, I have recently come across a couple of problems with the scheme. There are two problems. Somebody was running a bed and breakfast business and so a road did not qualify because that person was classified as running a business. The Minister is right that this is farmland being farmed by a number of people but this disqualified them straight away. Will the Minister look at that again because that business is not doing as well as it was? The other problem is that there must be two users of a lane under LIS. I know of a number of cases where there is only one farmer but the farm is leased out so a number of farmers are using it. The LIS has made a big difference to rural Ireland and it is very welcome that the Minister is putting another €15 million into it but I ask him to look at some of the qualifying criteria. They are just a bit too tight for people like this who have been farming all their life but who are being caught by the fact that they are trying to run a rural bed and breakfast business, disqualifying them from the LIS.

The Minister has confirmed that the LEADER programme will use the full allocation of money. We can all agree that LEADER programmes are very important to many of our communities. As a former board member, I believe additional moneys should be provided. What is the Department's opinion as to why we are so slow to make decisions on the projects the Minister has mentioned? It has always been my opinion that we need to get that bit quicker. Is it the paperwork or do we need to install something else because a lot of the community groups that need funds need them for very specific reasons? The fact that there has been a delay is a worry in that respect.

Níl a lán Gaeilge agam agus tá brón orm as sin but the Minister is moving €700,000 from a support scheme to Gaeltacht families. Obviously, every penny that Gaeltacht families get is very important but, given the new fondness for the Irish language, which is very important, with our new President and so on, is it time to look at ensuring the Irish language gets to more people and to revisit the support schemes that are in place? The Minister visited Athy last week. I thank him very much for coming down for that launch. In my area, there are a number of new Irish groups coming up. I believe we should be encouraging more and more of them. As I said, tá brón orm nach bhfuil mórán Gaeilge agam but I would love to learn more of the language. A lot of people have done that over recent years. Is the fact that we are moving €700,000 from support schemes a worry for those new groups? Will the Minister comment on that?

Of course, I am going to mention RRDF funding with regard to Kildare. The Minister saw some of the great stuff that is happening in my own area but we could do so much more.