Paudge Connolly (Cavan-Monaghan, Independent)

I too am quite unhappy with this Bill which fails to address several issues. There are dormant accounts throughout the country and I am quite sure that a proportion of them are in County Monaghan and County Cavan. When I look at the press releases every so often and hope that Monaghan or Cavan will figure highly, I note that the former has not received a single entire grant. Recently a grant was divided between Cootehill and Ballybay, and there was another for the Belturbet area of Cavan and a small part of County Monaghan. If one considers the targets when the dormant accounts fund was established, one sees that it was intended for disadvantaged areas and those held back economically or educationally. It was meant also for persons with a disability. The grants were to have been earmarked for certain RAPID, CLÁR and drugs task force areas. I am quite sure that County Monaghan meets all those criteria, yet despite that there were 15 valid applications, eight from Monaghan and seven from Cavan, when the funding was announced, the area was left out, something that very regularly occurs. That is not right. I have the full figures and every time one looks——

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