Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have outlined the rationale for the distribution of funding under the scheme and I have said that I am committed to additional schemes of this nature in the future. It is remiss of the Deputy to try to run down the officials in the Department. Ultimately, this was a pilot scheme. We tried to give out the money as quickly as possible. I have outlined the number of people outside of Dublin who got it. No matter how the officials in the Department distributed this money, they were going to be wrong in somebody's eyes. They have done a very good job and I hope that there will be cross-party support for the continuation of the scheme in budget 2026. I hope we will have a bigger pool of money and that we will be able to address all of those who were disappointed. There are disappointed people in many other counties as well, which the Deputy did not reference.

I am glad the Deputy referred to the night-time economy officer. There are many towns in the country that are way smaller or way bigger than Buncrana that do not have one. The Deputy did not reference this in his retort. I am sure that the officer is working very closely with venues in Buncrana and I will be able to evaluate the work in the not too distant future.

Regarding this scheme, I intend to have a repeat of it as soon as possible. When I have the necessary resources, we will be able to evaluate the output that of the scheme. Hopefully, we will also be able to address some, but maybe not all, of the disappointment.

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