Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

The figures were adjusted on the basis of the 2002 census and significant additions were made to the programme. I am happy that, within the criteria laid down, no other areas are eligible and I have examined this issue thoroughly.

The Deputy has touched on the nub of the matter. I am delighted there is demand to expand the CLÁR areas because that signifies the programme has delivered. It has dealt with the micro-infrastructure, which is very important but which is often overlooked. There is no point providing a main water pipe if it is not connected to a house down a little boreen; there is no point building a motorway if the boreen to the house is not connected to it and there is no point in providing major sewerage systems in large cities and towns if little villages are not provided with similar schemes. Similarly, there is no point providing massive community facilities in large towns if small communities with which the Deputy and myself are familiar do not have them.

CLÁR was intended to deal with minor issues in small towns and villages while taking into account the lack of critical mass that often bedevils the provision of facilities in small rural areas. I would love to expand CLÁR but there would be no point in doing so unless I had the funds to sustain the programme. Governments were enthusiastic about successful programmes in the past and expanded them but the butter got so thin on the bread that it could not be seen anymore. An appreciable difference can be made through the funding of €13 million which assists approximately 350,000 people in the CLÁR areas. However, if the programme was expanded to cover 500,000 people, a pro rata increase in the budget would have to be provided. We must be realistic in this regard.

It would be ideal if we could cover all of rural Ireland outside the periurban areas. Such areas are more urban than rural even though grass still grows in them. However, the issue boils down to resources. My primary obligation is to make the programme work and I am doing so. I am examining new measures because the goalposts keep moving. I am happy that many houses have become part of group water schemes. These schemes in rural areas were expensive but the people involved would never have had access to water if we had not introduced the schemes.

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