Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am a Donegal TD. I will not stand here and say that the Department did a great job when it excluded the entire north west from this support scheme. The venue that I am talking about provides more grassroots events than many of the others that were eligible. I am sure that the Minister will be delighted when he goes back to Limerick. How many got the grant in his own county? Was it four or five? That is good for them. I support every single grassroots venue and every single festival. That is really important. However, in Donegal and the north west generally there is an industry that needs to be supported as well. The idea that the Department decided without telling the applicants that funding would be provided on a first-come first-served basis is simply wrong. I commend the Minister on being able to secure this as a pilot project. However, there was enough money in the pool, limited as it was, to ensure that every eligible venue got support. Why is that important? It is important because the acts, the sound engineers and the lighting engineers get the support. There are people in my county and the north west who need that support, just as much as they need it in Limerick, Cork and Dublin. The Department has made a major mistake in how this was allocated. It has completely ignored the north west. Because it is not a huge amount, I appeal to the Minister to provide funding to the other 12 eligible applicants. It would be about €150,000. The Minister should at least make an appeal to the Minister for public expenditure or to his own Department to make sure that every eligible applicant gets their fair share of this support.

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