Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I cannot disagree with anything the Deputy says. I would love to have more funding. I will have to try to get more. This is a very important scheme. The day any Government or society forgets about the people in need, who need to be targeted, supported and helped, is a sad one. That is why the scheme is up and running now. I have had it reviewed and can now consider ways of targeting to ensure needs are met. Last year, there was a serious difficulty at Cherry Orchard. I allocated €100,000 at the end of the year to support that community in addressing its difficulties. Inner-city Dublin is affected but the Deputy is quite correct that this is not just a Dublin problem; there are problems all over the country. Local authority funding of €64,000 was made available. I would love to see a lot more funding than that. I must consider, however, all the other programmes, including the SICAP and the committees programme. There are many other programs to support and target. There is not just one programme; there are many others. I want to ensure we do not operate in a piecemeal way and that we consider all the programmes to ensure they are all targeting the right areas and that we are not trying to spread resources too much.

I accept the comments of the Deputy and I am reviewing the scheme. I am considering operating the communities programme along with it. These are two small programmes and it would be better to target the areas that need resources must.

See this speech in context