Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Minister about Ballycastle, but that has been led by the community and not by the local authority. Out of €53 million drawn down, €13 million has been spent. The Minister needs to start kicking heads. Local authorities are great at showing up for openings but there is no sense in the Minister allocating money that is not being drawn down and spent in the communities where it is needed, and it is badly needed. I encourage the Minister to get that information and publish it. It is time for the Minister to start publicly calling out local authorities that are letting their communities down by not spending this money.

There are substantial under-allocations and funds that are not being drawn down across many of the Minister's programmes. Members and officials of local authorities need to be told they are letting their communities down by not drawing down this money. The Minister needs to do more that write to them. He needs to name and shame those poor performers.

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