Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)

Regarding the previous question Deputy O'Donoghue raised, it will be appreciated by Deputy Ó Snodaigh that a small town like Buncrana has a night-time economy adviser that the Department made provision for. Many towns in Ireland that are much bigger than Buncrana do not have one. This is the basis of pilots. There will always be disappointment but once the pilots are concluded, that will give us an opportunity to take lessons from the scheme. I compared this to the sports capital grant. I know what the Deputy said was a bit tongue-in-cheek and he appreciates I would not ask anybody to divvy out €350 million on a first come, first served basis. This is €500,000. It is a start. It is regrettable that the party opposite is trying to undermine and pick holes in a scheme that, ultimately, I am trying to get into the budget. It has been welcomed by the night-time economy and the venues. Ultimately, there is disappointment. There was going to be disappointment when there was only €500,000 but I hope to be able to allay that disappointment in future. Rather than having a go at the scheme, it might be a more productive use of time to see if there were suggestions the party opposite might propose for the scheme in future.

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