Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I certainly do not want him, as an elected Member of this House, to have to go down the road of FOIs to try to establish information that should be freely given to him.

Working with the Minister, Deputy Foley and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, I will undertake to make progress on this. The sum of €5 million is a lot of money in the lives of people in the country but in the context of the HSE budget, I get really frustrated when I hear about these initiatives, particularly when I know that the transport initiative would have made such a fundamental difference to the organisations and the people they serve, as the Deputy outlined. I undertaken to raise the matter with the Minister and the Minister of State and get the Deputy the required information, and more importantly, see if we can find out where that €5 million went and get it allocated.

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