Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)

I thank the Tánaiste for his response and, indeed, his commitment to look further at this. I believe we need to look at it urgently because, as I said, of the unexpected job losses that we have suffered in the county on top of bearing the brunt of the job losses in the midlands - County Offaly bears that brunt. We need to act, urgently and swiftly, and we need to support the local community groups that are trying to put in applications. It has been conveyed to me on many occasions that there are challenges in providing 50% matching funding and the bureaucratic maze that the applications, in particular, the EU forms, require. What is required there is above what a small rural community group can do in terms of time, skill, expertise and administration. I acknowledge the role of Offaly County Council which has been good and hands-on in guiding groups. One solution might be if we were to provide Offaly County Council with more staff to help the community groups to get the applications in and to ensure that we benefit. At the end of the day, Offaly bore the greatest brunt of job losses and we have had job losses in the two companies, Cardinal Health and Fastway Couriers, as well.

See this speech in context