Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, will return to the pre-European Council meeting statements made in the House some time ago. Has the Minister of State apologised to our European colleagues for not making a submission seeking Covid support funding on time? We ended up with a paltry €900 million. Some other countries received twice or three times as much as we did. I do not begrudge any of them aon phingin amháin den airgead sin. I do not begrudge them of any of that money; they are entitled to it. Their governments and officials submitted their applications on time. They sought large amounts and got what they got. We asked for €1 billion and we got €900 million. That tells me that if we had asked for €2 billion, we probably would have received €1.8 billion or €1.6 billion. The Government is not serving the people. It is abdicating its responsibilities.

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