Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I am pleased to be able to clarify this issue. I will provide the Deputy with a table which outlines the payments from my Department to Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in 2006, 2007 and 2008, as well as the approved allocation for 2009. Parallel to the current funding provided by my Department, capital funding has been provided in recent years through the Vote of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism for the development of regional centres for Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann.

What happened was that, in order to complete the capital programme, money was provided and was included in my Department's Vote when it should have been included in the Vote of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism. In order to convey the full picture, I will provide the Deputy with all the detail of current spending, as well as comparative figures, breakdowns and so on. After that, I suggest that he ask the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism how much it has given in capital funding in the relevant years. It will then be clear that there has been no large windfall increase in funding for Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann.

The core funding for that organisation was €575,000 in 2006; €600,000 in 2007; €630,000 in 2008; and will be retained at €630,000 for 2009. However, an additional €30,000 will be added to that figure representing the €30,000 that was allocated in each of those years to the Coleman centre in Gurteen, which allocation is now being subsumed into the core funding. In addition, we have acceded to Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann's application for €60,000 in respect of Brú Ború. Therefore, it is receiving an additional——

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