Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

The position is similar in the case of Údarás na Gaeltachta. This is the challenge for me as a Minister. The economy is not expanding. Perhaps we became careless when money was plentiful and did not watch how it was spent. I have long been of the opinion – nothing will convince me otherwise – that the methodology employed by Údarás na Gaeltachta in respect of its buildings programme was incredibly expensive. It is sitting on approximately €150 million worth of property. I said to its officials that, in more constrained times, perhaps we could examine ways of having as much property available for industry in the Gaeltacht as we had before and add to it. However, we should not have to pay out the large sums of money we paid out in the past. In fairness, they sat down and worked this out with me. We will be able to have as good a year this year in Údarás na Gaeltachta, as we had last year, by way of innovative and creative ways of spending money on a smaller budget. This is what life is all about – getting better value for money.

An amazing feature of Government is that we have preached day and night about getting better value for money, but when a Minister does that, all people can talk about is the total spend; they do not consider the value delivered on the ground.