Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I defy anyone in Fine Gael to confirm that the party was in favour of the regionalisation of the country — in other words, positive discrimination for the Border, midlands and west region. We delivered on that with expenditure reaching €2.3 billion. In both the BMW and south east regions, we are wellahead of our projections and profiles. Actual expenditure for the BMW region last year was €960 million compared to a profiled figure of €622 million. That is almost €70 million, or 11%, ahead of what was profiled for the area. Actual expenditure for the south east region last year was €930 million compared to a profiled expenditure of €787 million. That expenditure is way ahead of the profiles and it reflects our commitment.