Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Absolutely. When we assumed responsibility for the programme and carried out the initial review, it emerged that a significant variety of groups were involved. There are some groups in RAPID areas which will find it extremely difficult to create their own incomes. Some others are operating quite substantial tourism projects and have extremely good sources of income. There are still others which have enormous reserves of income because they have been making good profits.

If, in a time of scarce resources, projects are making good profits which can be sustained, would it not be much better for me to continue to devote funding to the creation of additional employment rather than giving grants to those who do not really need them? The projects under discussion are meant to operate in the middle economy that is located between 100% funded community groups and the 100% commercial service. There is a fantastic example of such a project in Deputy Wall's constituency, namely, Lullymore Heritage and Discovery Park. Visitors are willing to pay hard-earned money to gain entry to this park.

Some of these projects are what I would term serious loss leaders in the context that they draw in visitors, who frequent shops, public houses, etc., and help create wealth. However, there are known sources of income within some of these projects and we are trying to see how we might use the funds that exist to create further employment. There are some very good projects in RAPID areas which do not have ways of earning money. These will be treated very fairly in the review process. I have kept in reserve a small amount of money that can be allocated to groups which are acting in good faith, which are making genuine efforts and which require funding.

I chose to act in this way because if I had been obliged to review the 320 projects and then put in place an appeals process, progress would have been too slow. Only 50 groups have requested reviews - this number may eventually rise to 60 - and this is obviously because the remainder, although they may not be happy about it, are in a position to stretch their resources that bit further. They have informed me that they are willing to do the latter. In such circumstances, we will look after the groups which are experiencing problems.

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