Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I respect the Minister of State's answer in respect of his responsibility within the Department and how he is not able to answer for the Minister in this regard. However, as a matter of urgency, could he instruct his Department to furnish me with information about the national co-ordinating committee meetings of the RAPID programme and tell me about attendance, if any, by a ministerial representative since the Government came into office?

The Minister of State also gives credence to the fact that the Government's poor record regarding the RAPID programme is somehow a response to the diminishing local government fund. I might not agree with many of the measures the Government has initiated or instigated in respect of how it sees that fund being supplied into the future and how it might be increased. Considering the Government has made plans in that regard vis-à-vis the property tax, water charges and any consideration it might give to an alternative form of rates that might instigate a methodology that might be more appropriate, accountable and aligned with the current commercial realities, does the Minister of State see a mechanism by which the local government fund will be increased as opposed to the huge decreases we have seen in recent years? If that is the case, will it only be then that the Government takes a keener interest in areas like the RAPID programmes and ultimately represents them far better than through the talk and mantras made prior to the last general election?

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