Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I did table a specific question but for some reason it became a general question. There must have been a misunderstanding somewhere in the Questions Office. I took the trouble of getting the action plan and going through it. Because it was so general I asked a specific question about the Department of Rural and Community Development but unfortunately the question is general across all Departments. It was not my intention to ask that question. I asked specifically about the planned projects under the remit of the Department of Rural and Community Development. I read page 47, which mentions social enterprise, senior alert schemes, new volunteer centres and young social innovators. These are all very worthy but I cannot explain to anybody in Galway city or county what projects are going ahead next year or how we can make it easier for them in terms of access. I am thinking in particular of the organisation about which I wrote to the Minister of State with regard to autism. I will not go into the details. It is crying out for money. According to the Comptroller and Auditor General there is an underspend and we seem to have a very complicated system. I think the Minister of State is nodding in agreement, which is welcome, but we really need to push this forward so we can use the money.

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