Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

If I understand the Minister correctly, 110 applications were successful. Does the Minister have the number of applications made? This question has been tabled because of the concern, which is not a new phenomenon, that sports capital funding has been assigned to constituencies or counties where there is a Minister. I do not want to get into the politics of it but Mayo came out particularly well on this occasion. I am sure the Minister has information on the distribution of funds in the past that point to other Ministers from my side of the House. The Government came to power and said it would do things differently and that there would be a more transparent approach to the dispersal of funds. Either the Minister accepts the previous practice was fair and equitable and it was coincidental that constituencies and counties with senior Ministers were more successful because they were better able to apply for grants or the Minister has decided to adopt a practice that was heretofore unacceptable.

See this speech in context