Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I run my schemes in an objective manner.

An organisation in my constituency applied for moneys from the Ciste and received them. Under the scheme, if an organisation comes up with €1, it will receive €4, as long as it has a suitable business plan. It is done on an open competition basis and is disbursed on that basis.

No moneys went to Waterford but I understand no application was received from there. It is like the national lottery — if one does not buy the ticket, one cannot win the award.

Half of the Irish-speaking population lives in the Galway Gaeltacht and that is why it gets more moneys than the Waterford Gaeltacht, one of the smallest. Even if Deputy O'Shea were Minister, he would have to recognise this reality and could not make it that Waterford received more than Galway.

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