Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like my colleague, Deputy Calleary, I share the concerns that in the overall scheme there has been a very slow and small drawdown to date. We sincerely hope that every cent of the allocated money will be spent by the end of the programme. I note from figures the Minister gave me recently that in my counties, Cavan and Monaghan, local action groups have a substantial programme and a good level of commitment. I realise that between the end of November and the end of December there was a substantial increase in the number of applications and funding committed. I sincerely hope that will be replicated throughout the country. As we are in 2019 now and the programme is to end in 2020, does the Minister envisage a reallocation of some funding towards programmes and local action groups that have moved the projects forward and have been to the fore in approving projects and drawing down funding to date? Early consideration should be given to reallocation of funding if there is a possibility that some of the overall funding programme would not be drawn down.

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