Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Boyle is not listening very carefully. The teams feel that, since some of the fund's targets mirror those in their plans, they should be part of the consultation process and involved in the dispersal of the funds the Government directs towards RAPID areas. I reject the allegation that money would be unfairly targeted towards any constituency, in particular Galway West. If one examines my ministerial record, one would find I normally undertake dispersals on an objective system, either by demand or by making allocations in proportion to population or the number of RAPID areas.

The last 24 hours have provided a good example. My Department, in conjunction with the Department of Health and Children, dispersed money to support community health facilities in RAPID areas. Our actions were simple in this case. We gave an allocation to each RAPID area and insisted the Health Service Executive, HSE, consult the area implementation teams and devise a list in which I had no say. As long as the lists presented to the Government conformed in terms of money and typography, such as the requirement for health or community health facilities eligible for funding in the normal way, and as long as a matching fund was provided by the Department of Health and Children, we allocated the money. Any allegation that the systems I use are in some way personal decisions is incorrect. What is my decision is the methodology used and it is a fair and open one. We are elected as a Government to do this. The Deputy is correct——

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