Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I take it then that the Minister is giving an assurance that the budget of €6 million will not be exceeded. A criticism of the Department is that the selection of Limerick as city of culture arose in the absence of any competition whatsoever, meaning there was no opportunity for other cities to compete for the position. I also hold the view one has to start somewhere and that Limerick was probably the best place to start. However, there is a general public concern that this level of public funding was committed to a project without there being any transparency in the process and that the Department tried to provide some sort of retrospective rationale for the selection of Limerick for this initiative. Will the Minister address those concerns?

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