Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do.

The first thing I did was to look at the scheme for the previous ten years and at areas that had done very well. I looked at areas that had done more than well, and I will not be political about that. On this occasion, I looked at areas that had done badly and I increased their funding by 20%. They were places like Carlow, Wicklow and other smaller counties. I left Leitrim alone because it has a small population and a small base of money. I did this on a per capita basis.

The Deputy is correct. Wexford got what it was entitled to get. Everyone was waiting to see if I would give Mayo one and a half times what I gave everywhere else. I did not. I gave clubs in Mayo, to the penny, what they were entitled to get, and I got into difficulty because of it. This week, the local paper in County Mayo is criticising me because I did not support this or that club. I could not satisfy everybody. I had €270 million worth of applications and €25 million to give out. I did it as fairly as I could.

We need to support and help clubs to understand the application rules. This does not just apply to ordinary people. I have had applications from professional people, such as solicitors, who still do not know the rules, or do not read them. If a club is applying for a State grant the State must get a charge on the club's property, and that property must be registered. Solicitors were sending the Department leases of six months, a year or five years. This time, for the first time, I said clubs that were applying for grants of €25,000 or less need not take a charge against a property. I allowed them to draw down funds without having their property registered. A grant of more than €25,000 is a major investment and in that case the State demands that the applicant submit a lease of 22 years plus one day. Solicitors continued to send leases of five or 15 years. Let me give an example. Applicants never had as much time to submit because I extended the closing date to 1 June, but one application came in with a lease that extended only to 15 July. It was already invalid by the time the application was sent. The solicitor then sent a new lease but it was for only 15 years. If he had read the guidelines he would have seen that the lease must be for 22 years and one day.

I did this as fairly as I could and distributed the money as equally as I could. I tried to look at every county and balance urban and rural, soccer, Gaelic and other sports. Deputy Wallace sent me information about applications from County Wexford. They were invalid. In my own town of Westport, there is a soccer and a Gaelic club. The application from the Gaelic club was invalid, and I was criticised over that. I took no club out that was invalid. I asked the Department not to send me applications that were invalid. When one has a limited amount of money one cannot satisfy everyone.

Deputy Wallace is involved in football and in sport. We have tried to provide facilities for young boys and girls for the future.

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