Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I find it rather instructive that the Government side seems to be a little like the cat that got the cream, in terms of some of the announcements being made. Let us put one thing in perspective about the €500,000 for events and festivals across the country. As a former chairman of north west tourism, we did not quite get that amount but we received a substantial amount up to some years ago. The funding has been cut drastically and €500,000 for 187 festivals works out at €2,500 per festival, according to our Whip who is a mathematical expert. I wish Senator Norris well in his remarks on the Bloomsday festival.I must say the €2,500 will go a long way. What a miserly sum of money for important festivals and events throughout the country.

Some comments were made in reference to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin. As my colleague in the Dáil, Deputy Barry Cowen, said, the Minister was crying crocodile tears about the lack of democracy at local level. He said it was time for reform and a return to democracy in towns and cities throughout the country. I remind the Leader, because he was personally involved in this, that this is the same Minister who consistently and persistently refused to enlarge and expand the conditions under which Members of this House could go about their democratic work by refusing to expand and improve the conditions under which the vouched parliamentary allowance of €12,500 was introduced some two years ago. People say we should not talk about money and allowances for fear of the media coming down upon us but I could not care less. As I have said before, all we are looking for as Senators is to be given the same rights as Deputies, or at least going halfway to getting the same rights. The Minister has refused point blank to change the current regime because he says he is afraid of what the Irish Daily Mailand other newspapers might say. This is not about increasing the amount of money available but using the existing amount of money in order that Senators can go about their work. Many of them do quite a lot of constituency work and some of them will be looking to be elected to the other House. Even if that is not the case, they are entitled under the laws to be able to work to their maximum capacity and the resources for their work to be fairly distributed, which is not the case at the moment. I found it extraordinarily hypocritical of the Minister to talk about democracy when he has refused to tweak a line in a regulation that would allow Senators to maximise the amount of representations they can make on behalf of constituents in the areas in which they live.