Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

In principle I agree with the approach of Deputy O'Shea as long as it is not carried on to a ridiculous degree. When one makes a rule one finds that it applies to a situation to which one did not intend it to apply. I agree that there would be sense in all Departments funding this together. Such an approach created this problem because Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann was receiving the money from two Departments and it sought funding from a Department that is over us all. It received additional current spending, €200,000, and capital spending together. Rather than dividing the sum it was allocated to one Vote because a unitary view was taken to the whole package. This is why it wound up in one Vote rather than two. It would have been better if a unitary view was taken as suggested by Deputy O'Shea before it was split into the appropriate Votes. Taking the unitary approach created this problem because capital and current allocations were put into the same Vote. It is a valid question.

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