James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the Deputy's comment about the two other Ministers since; there have been three Ministers in the past five years since this Department was created. The Tánaiste served for four of those years, the then Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, served for six months and I have been here for two months. Give us a chance and let us see where we are. I will certainly make my best efforts, as the Deputy acknowledged.

The figure has been met. The gap of €307 million was identified and there was the Cassells report which I was there for. I met the author of it at the time. I contributed to that report as a then Opposition TD and the Funding the Future framework brings that up to date. That figure of €307 million has been identified but that has been incrementally brought down. There has been €164 million of investment to date, with a further €100 million to follow in this Government term.

That is a programme for Government commitment. That is one I absolutely intend to honour and I will have those discussions as part of the budget Estimates process. Indeed, I would like the Deputy's support on that because I presume she will be participating in the relevant committee at the time. That is something that is very much a goal of this Government.

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