Joe McHugh (Fine Gael)

I tried to interrupt the Minister a few times as Senator Burke was not here to defend himself. He is here now, however, and he will defend himself when he gets an opportunity.

The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs has a big job because his ministerial portfolio has no teeth in terms of reversing the lack of investment in rural areas. His mindset in regard to depopulation is right and he wants to do something about it but as far as I am concerned, that is not happening.

I wish to refer to a number of items, the first of which is the community groups and the partnerships. As the Minister is well aware, the community groups and the partnerships fought hard to be included in the CLÁR programme and to act as a conduit in regard to the draw-down of money but the Minister decided not to go down that road. He went down the local authority road and decided not to use the community and voluntary sector for reasons——