Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I want to point out that the first application to be lodged by this Administration, and managed in its entirety from beginning to end, will be the TalkTalk application in Waterford. The Deputy seems somehow to conclude that it is the intention of the EGF process to expend all the money to which one can gain access. That is not, and never has been, the case in this or any other country.

EU statistics indicate that the average reimbursement is of the order of 46%. We are currently under that figure at 44.5%. Upon my appointment as Minister of State, I acknowledged that perhaps the performance of my Department in the past had not been stellar in this area. I immediately initiated a review of the EGF application process. We had extensive and ongoing discussions and meetings with worker representatives from the three entities mentioned by the Deputy. We learned a lot from that process, which was used when we prepared for and lodged the TalkTalk application. I am confident that the outcome of the process that has been undergone in interacting meaningfully with the workers in Waterford, trying to establish as best we can - although it is a very difficult thing to do - what their training and further education needs are, will be a far more positive one than we have experienced in the past.

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