Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I do not think so. There was a rule change. In the old days if one did not live in the Gaeltacht at the time of application, one could not get the grant. We changed that rule and said we would sanction the grant even if the individual was not living in the Gaeltacht at the time of application but that we would not pay it until he or she was permanently resident there. We found, for example, that someone got a job in west Kerry who was living in Dublin. The person wanted to build a house but was technically not eligible for the grant because he was not living in the Gaeltacht at the time of application. We changed that, but to safeguard the integrity of the scheme, we do not pay the grant until we are satisfied that the person is permanently living in the Gaeltacht.

I do not have figures on the number of people involved. That would not give us a good indication because in many cases someone moves to the Gaeltacht for a job, rents a house and then builds a house. Therefore, it would be very difficult to ascertain how many people are coming back into the Gaeltacht and then applying for housing grants.

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