Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would not have thought there would be a need to move it between the axes. If memory services me correctly, axis 3 is the project money and axis 4 is the administration money. I presume the administration money will be used for administration which means there will not be much swapping. However, what is required is swapping between the measures. I presume the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine will do whatever is necessary. Does the Minister foresee any difficulty with the Commission in swapping money between the measures and reformulating between the measures? When we agreed the process at the beginning I was told there would not be any difficulty in swapping the money within the measures, once it was kept within the correct axis. Perhaps the Minister would confirm if that is still the case. The Minister said a comprehensive analysis was carried out. On the last day I recall the Minister saying that €100 million remained to be allocated, whereas today he said it was €90 million. The difference is not hugely significant, considering that no project was passed in February and March with only a small number in April. Is it possible to give permission for small projects with clear time constraints? For example, festivals, assisted by the Leader programme, which are due to take place in the summer, will not significantly change the arithmetic. Would it be possible to give permission for these events well in advance as it is difficult to plan without knowing whether one will get Leader funding?

See this speech in context