Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A few weeks ago the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and her Department announced €164 million in rural regeneration and development fund funding. Meath County Council submitted three projects for funding. A total of 19 counties received funding. The three projects in Meath were in Athboy, Oldcastle and Dunshaughlin and not one of them was funded. The three projects combined would cost €10 million. The Minister's constituency with a population of 147,000 got €32 million. Meath has a population of 222,000 and did not get a penny. What were the reasons that Meath was overlooked once again in this round of funding? Was this raised with the Tánaiste by Deputy English? Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil giving crumbs to the people in Meath is not good enough and this is not the first time. It has been going on for years whether it is funding for gardaí, the state of the roads or any other kind of funding. Meath is always at the bottom of the pile and that needs to change.

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