Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. Is it a source of personal regret that despite the fact that €10 million was specifically allocated for this purpose in budget 2016, as the Minister alluded to, it is now being redirected to other initiatives? Was that at the request of the previous Minister? As a new Minister in the role, is the Minister disappointed it was the case? Does he think he will be able to regain lost ground on this issue? One hoped the pilot scheme would have been deemed to have been successful by this stage and that a supplementary budget would have been made available for an enlargement of it or a rolling out of it across the country?

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