Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In respect of the recent programme, I allocated €6 million in funding, of which €2 million went to the LCDCs. I divided that equally around the country this year. Some €3.5 million will be ring-fenced this year and last year there was €2.5 million ring-fenced for Dublin inner city, in particular. Some €500,000 of that funding was for legacy schemes that had been there in the past. The Deputy is quite correct. That is why I am asking the LCDCs. They are the people who are on the ground, have the local knowledge and should be able to identify where the difficulties are. The Deputy is correct that there is both urban and rural disadvantage. In particular, there are very serious problems in urban areas of disadvantage. That is why we ring-fenced the €3.5 million this year for Dublin inner city. That is why I gave Cherry Orchard €100,000 at the end of last year. They came and made a case to me in respect of difficulties that they had.

The Deputy is quite correct. We are looking at the scheme and I intend to have a new scheme up and running by the end of May. I want to identify the areas most in need of funding. I do not want it to be going to areas that do not have the same need. I want them to target the areas that need it most. That is why we are reviewing the scheme at present. The Deputy asked me about the funding and how every county gets the same funding. We need to look at ways and means of identifying the counties and areas most in need of funding.

See this speech in context