Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I should have organised the cheerleaders and the brass band, because I knew what was coming. The reality is that 3% of the €21 million allocation for the town and village renewal scheme in 2018 has been spent, 20% of the 2017 budget remains unspent and a quarter of the CLÁR budget for 2018 remains unspent – I have not even got to 2019. We still have difficulties with the LEADER programme where 76% of the budget remains unspent. We are mid-way through 2019 in a programme that was officially due to end in 2020, albeit with extensions. There have been announcements and the Minister has outlined job creation figures but how many of the jobs are at the minimum wage? What is the spread of those jobs? "Outside Dublin" could mean Drogheda or across the M50 and in places very close to Dublin. Are the jobs spreading to the west and beyond Galway? How many IDA visits were there this year in County Mayo? There were very few compared to the rest of the country. It is great to tick boxes and lists but the reality on the ground is that many of the schemes the Minister is announcing are not being delivered. We have had the discussion about the difficulty with the delivery of schemes. What are we going to do about it, rather than continuing to talk about it?

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