Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy O'Mahony for his kind comments. We had difficult choices to make when considering the economic situation, but we managed quite well. I am pleased by that. We did not manage badly for the right reasons.

There is an overhang still, of approximately €120 million, on the sports capital programme. We estimate that what we will need in 2010 is €48 million to complete the required part of the programme. The €56 million allocation for this year was all spent by October, so there was no issue in that regard. I would like to have another sports capital programme. We are doing an assessment of what we have done over the past ten years. A significant sum of €750 million has been put into capacity around the country. There is some unevenness in the regions with regard to what has been provided and I am trying to assess that so as to establish what is required in any new programme. Therefore, if there is a new programme it will not, as with any new programme, be on the same basis. However, it should be a sports capital programme and I am committed to that. It may need to be more specifically targeted than in the past.

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