Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

My experience of various organisations over the years is that when one takes out the political process they become over-cautious, over-regulated and unable to deal with the realities of people's lives. A wise civil servant, whom I admired and who could be strict, always warned people about dangers. Once, in Northern Ireland, he said to me, "The reality is, you cannot survive without us." The public service cannot survive without politicians either. This happened in the Northern Ireland administration over the years as it continually slowed down because of too much caution.

When I was first nominated as a Minister of State in 1997, I felt certain measures should be taken with regard to the Gaeltacht. I hope I have since carried them out in a fair and transparent manner. I approached these matters in a gung-ho fashion. At times advice was given that the then Department of the Environment and Local Government should be responsible for roads. Of course it should have been responsible, but it was not. Perhaps the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism should have been responsible for sports, community and Gaeltacht facilities, but it was not. I felt my job was to ensure these matters were looked after, but not on a partisan basis. Areas are now getting water as a result of the CLÁR programme and it is a fair, transparent and equal process for all. These areas would not have had a chance of piped water and a public water scheme under the normal conventional and conservative approach. The programme was politically driven by a need I, as an elected politician, knew existed. There are people in Senator McHugh's region who would like the scheme to be extended beyond the limits of the CLÁR programme.