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

There could be a role for the Department of Social Protection which gives the money. If one looks at the tendering process for the SICAP programme, one will see that there is no provision under it to make this allocation to the development companies on the islands. Will the Minister confirm that this is a correct reading of the tendering process? Therefore, it will have to be a special allocation. Will the Minister confirm that regardless of whether it is the responsibility of the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, the Minister of State at that Department or in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, there will be a sum for the island development companies, give or take €500,000 or €600,000, to continue the vital work being done to ensure the sustainability of the islands because without the development companies, they are not sustainable?

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