Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

The Deputies and Senators from Galway East amaze me. It is obvious they do not know how these schemes work. I will outline the position quickly to show Deputy McHugh that, if something is happening, it is because the local authority has made certain decisions. It is out of my hands.

We made an allocation of approximately €498,000 to Galway County Council for non-national roads and told the council to select the project. We had no input in the selection process whatsoever. The only criteria were that they must be class two or class three roads, that no project could cost over €30,000 unless it is a bridge and it must have been in a CLÁR area. There was more work done in the east of the county than the west in 2004, but that was a matter for the local authority as I had no say in the matter. As the Deputy knows, there are more councillors from the east than the west. He should have his councillors sort that out.

Coillte picked its designated roads in consultation with local authorities. I had no input in that. The LIS roads are in the same situation. The position is simple, an initial allocation is made by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. For every €2 spent in any CLÁR area in the county, we allocate another €1. The selection of the supplementary roads funded by CLÁR moneys is a matter for the local authority and we have no input as long as the projects are inside CLÁR areas. If there is an east-west bias it is within the county council and has nothing to do with me as Minister. If its members favour the east I bow to their wishes and, similarly, if they favour the west I bow to their wishes.

Group water schemes and public water schemes are dealt with on demand. An allocation of a block grant is made by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and spending is at the discretion of the council, but if any of that grant is spent in a CLÁR area, we automatically back it euro for euro. However, I have no discretion in this.

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