Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The messages given by certain parties were acted on by the public, which can be seen in the paltry presence of the Deputy's party in this Chamber. I wish to make clear that in 2011, funding from my Department for RAPID was €2.269 million. This year, it is €3.077 million, so notwithstanding the serious economic difficulties we all face, the fact is that money was significantly increased, although it is nothing like what we would want it to be. The priority is clear and it has an increased priority in terms of last year's budget compared with this year's. It is a matter for individual Departments to report on the provision of funding and progress in delivery with regard to projects that are their responsibility in the different RAPID areas. Funding of the programme is a highly complex issue. The central ethos of the programme is to provide priority and front-loaded access for RAPID areas to existing funds and hence no overall defined RAPID budget was put in place. I am confident the Government is doing its best to give an increased priority to funding as it did in the past 12 months.

See this speech in context