I welcome the Minister and his officials who are here to speak on the Supplementary Estimate in respect of Vote 27 — Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. Translation facilities are available for members.
Tá fáilte romhat, a Aire.
Vote 27 — Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (Supplementary).
Copies of my statement in Irish and English have been distributed. I will read some of my statement in Irish. With regard to questions, I will follow my normal habit of answering them in the language in which they are asked.
A Chathaoirligh agus a bhaill den choiste, tá a fhios agam gur cuireadh nóta gairid eolais ar fáil don choiste cheana féin ar an Mheastachán Forlíonach atá á mholadh. Mar sin, tá sé ar intinn agam gan ach ráiteas gairid tosaigh a thabhairt le deis a thabhairt do na baill pé cheist ar mian leo a phlé.
Tá áthas orm an deis seo a ghlacadh Meastachán Forlíonach a chur faoi bhráid an choiste, go bhfuil sé mar phríomhaidhm aige coigealtais atá ag teacht chun chinn thar fo-mhírchinn áirithe i Vóta na Roinne a aistrú go dtí na fo-mhírchinn seo a leanas: C Ciste na Gaeilge; E, tithe Gaeltachta; F, scéimeanna sóisialta agus cultúrtha sa Ghaeltacht; G, scéimeanna feabhsúcháin sa Ghaeltacht; M, an Clár Síochana agus Athmhuintearais/INTERREG; N, tionscnamh drugaí/áiseanna agus seirbhísí do dhaoine óga; Q.I, scéimeanna aineasa tuaithe agus scéimeanna forbartha tuaithe; Q.3, an scéim shóisialta tuaithe; agus R, CLÁR. Ta foráil nua tugtha isteach san Mheastachán Forlíonach do chaiteachas reatha faoi fho-mhírcheann Q.1.4, áineas tuaithe, áit nach raibh ach foráil chaipitil ann go dtí seo.
Sé an céad toradh a bheidh ar an Mheastachán Forlíonach ná go mbeifear in ann coigealtais €10.9 milliúin san tsoláthar do chaiteachas chaipitil faoi na fo-mhirchinn seo a leanas a aistriú, oileáin, RAPID, scéimeanna áineasa tuaithe, scéimeanna forbartha tuaithe agus Leader-clár náisiúnta forbhartha tuaithe.
Mar atá leagtha amach sa nóta eolais a cuireadh ar fáil do na baill, bainfear úsáid as an gcistiú seo chun tacú le: forbairt leanúnach an bhonneagair fisiciúil agus eacnamaíoch sa Ghaeltacht; deontais chun cuidiú le teaghlaigh treoirlínte nua, ón Roinn Comhshaoil, Oidhreachta agus Rialtais áitiuil, a shásamh maidir le sábháilteacht tine i dtithe ina raibh lóistín a chur ar fáil do mhic léinn atá ag freastal ar choláistí samhraidh Ghaeilge; riachtanais bhreise chaipitil faoin chlár síochána agus athmhuintearais, páirtmhaoinithe ag an AE, ag éirí as réiteach ceisteanna maidir le dúnadh íocaíochtaí i leith 2006; leanúint le hobair an chiste d'áiseanna agus seirbhísí do dhaoine óga faoin tionscnamh drugaí; agus riachtanais bhreise CHLÁR, ag éirí as méadú in 2006 ar na ceantair i dteideal a maoinithe.
Sé an dara thoradh a bheidh ar an Mheastachán Forlíonach ná go mbeifear in ann coigealtais €11.199 milliúin san tsoláthar do chaiteachas reatha faoi na fo-mhírchinn seo a leanas a aistriu: tionscnamh um ardscileanna Gaeilge, deontais do chláir phobail agus dheonach, clár seirbhísí pobail agus feabhas ar chomhordú scéimeanna forbartha áitiúil agus pobail.
Mar atá leagtha amach sa nóta eolais a cuireadh ar fáil do na baill, bainfear úsáid as an gcistiú seo chun tacú le: na riachtanais maoinithe breise faoi chiste na Gaeilge, ag cur san áireamh na trí fo-chistí a bunaíodh le déanaí, siad san, an ciste logainmneacha, an ciste gnó agus an ciste tríú leibhéal, do fhorais thar lear i mbun staidéir Ghaeilge a chur chun cinn, ar a raibh eileamh an ard in 2007; caiteachas breise faoin scéim a thugann cuidiú do thuismitheoirí a bpáistí a sheoladh ar na coláistí samhraidh; riachtanais maoinithe reatha breise faoin chlár síochána agus athmhuintearais, páirtmhaoinithe ag an AE, ag éirí as réiteach ceisteanna maidir le dúnadh íocaíochtaí i leith 2006; feidhmiú treoirscéim iompair tuaithe agus costais eile neamhchaipitiúla maidir le Comhairle na Tuaithe agus le hearcú oifigigh áineasa tuaithe; agus riachtanais breise na scéime sóisialta tuaithe, SST, ag éirí as an toradh carnach atá le breisithe leasa shóisialaigh, a bhfuil tionchur díreach acu ar na rátaí iníoctha faoin SST, maraon le hardleibhéal buan chomhpháirtíiochta sa scéim.
Mar a dúras cheana, tá foráil nua tugtha isteach san Mheastachán Forlíonach seo do chaiteachas reatha, €100,000 i mbliana, faoi fho-mhircheann Q.I.4, áineas tuaithe. Maoiníonn an clár seo, a bunaíodh in 2007, gníomhaíochtaí atá beartaithe faoin PFN le háineas tuaithe a fhorbairt mar atá leagtha amach i dtuarascáil Chomhairle na Tuaithe faoi fhorbairt straitéis náisiúnta áineasa tuaithe. Ní raibh ach foráil chaipitil i gceist faoin chlár seo go dtí seo, ach ceadóidh an sruth maoinithe reatha tacaithe eile neamhchaipitiúla maidir le Comhairle na Tuaithe agus le próiseas earcaithe oifigigh áineasa tuaithe, cé nach mbeidh an próiseas seo faoi Ián seoil go dtí an bhliain seo chugainn.
Tuigfidh na baill gur féidir go dtiocfaidh athrú ar chúrsaí mar atá siad faoi láthair maidir le caiteachas reatha agus caipitil agus coinneofar súil ghéar ar seo agus muid ag druidim i dtreo dheireadh na bliana. Ba mhaith liom a thabhairt chun aire an choiste gur Meastachán teicniúil é an Meastachan Forlíonach seo agus go bhfuil sé neodrach maidir lena thionchar ar an Státchiste. Beidh me Ián sasta tabhairt faoi aon cheisteanna gur mian leis na Teachtaí a ardú.
Go raibh maith agat.
I want to apologise for Deputy McGinley who is unable to be here because he is in Donegal with the families affected by the drowning tragedy there. I offer my deepest sympathy to the families involved. I am sure the Minister and the committee also offer theirs. This terrible tragedy has hit the people of a rural community in which Deputy McGinley lives and he is spending the day with them. I offer my sympathy to everybody affected by the tragedy.
It might be appropriate for us to send our condolences to the families in Donegal.
I agree and we should also do the same for the two men who drowned in my constituency at the weekend.
I wish to be associated with that comment.
While I am surprised there was an underspend, I compliment the Minister on not sending the funding back but transferring it to another scheme. I am surprised that it applied to the islands, the RAPID programme and, in particular, the Leader programme. When will the pilot rural transport scheme be rolled out? Why is there such a slow uptake of capital projects in rural areas?
If there is a downturn in the economy, the Minister and his Department will realise that this is a vital time, especially in rural Ireland, and that the next few years are crucial for infrastructural development. If we do not have the necessary infrastructure in rural areas, we will have great difficulty in keeping people in those areas. To be fair to the Minister and his Department, they have tried to target the problem through the CLÁR programme and other schemes rolled out in conjunction with local authorities. We need more funding to keep as many people as possible in rural areas, particularly Gaeltacht areas. Whatever funding is necessary for Údarás na Gaeltachta to keep the jobs we have and attract new ones to the Gaeltacht should be provided. There is pressure in keeping jobs in rural Ireland and the Gaeltachtaí will come under similar pressure. While it will not be easy to attract companies to the Gaeltacht, it is important that the necessary resources and money are provided to support and encourage them.
The Minister believes, as I do, that we do not always have to focus our attention on outsiders setting up in the Gaeltacht, as there are people in the Gaeltacht who, with a little support, would create opportunities. There are not enough schemes for those who want to set up businesses but, with a little support, such businesses would take off.
I am surprised there was a saving of €2 million in the Leader programme, particularly as so many people, many of whom I have seen, look for funding and support from the programme. The Leader IV programme is coming on stream and people are waiting to see what funding will come from it. Will the Minister explain why €2 million has been sent back?
Why has there been an underspend on child care, when there has been so much debate on the subject recently? There was an outcry earlier this year.
Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil don Aire freisin. I will ask a few questions about some of the programmes mentioned.
The grants for community and voluntary programmes are going down. It is pointed out in the Minister's brief that this is due to full-year liabilities not accruing until 2008. Is there a shortfall or have some projects not fulfilled the necessary criteria?
There has also been a reduction in local and community development schemes. What are the reasons for this reduction?
I very much welcome the increase in the young persons' facilities and services fund. There is a huge demand for the top-up available under that scheme which is proving extremely successful.
Will the Minister explain why some RAPID projects were not taken up? The reason might relate to the difficulties some groups have had in applying for grants under the scheme and some of the technicalities in completing application forms for organisations such as Pobal.
Most of the €2.3 million saving under the RAPID programme is on the capital side. The Minister made the interesting point that these programmes are demand led and are co-financed by other agencies such as local authorities and the HSE. Obviously there was a programme in place at the beginning of the year. Has this surplus arisen because some of the outside agencies have changed their programmes? I presume everybody would have been singing from the same hymn sheet at the beginning of the year. Perhaps the Minister could explain if some people have changed their minds along the way.
I will deal first with questions relating to capital issues generally. The level of funding sanctioned will utilise the Vote in full and more, if all the liabilities are received. I have said publicly time and again that the problem is that while local authorities, which undertake a great deal of work on behalf of the Department, receive a great deal of funding, they are quite shy about completing the work and submitting the bills. I will give an example. As we sit here with less than 20 days to go in terms of our annual budget, approximately 20% of the Vote has not yet been paid out. We may have received claims for this money during the past week or ten days. I cannot get local authorities to submit quarterly bills which makes budgeting almost impossible. In addition, despite the sanctioning of many projects and promises they will be completed, we receive a million and one reasons at the end of the year why this has not been done.
Members from constituencies in which CLÁR operates may be aware of the following. I generally try to determine in the autumn how spending is progressing. However, if I do not receive by the end of the year information in regard to what will or will not be done, my Department is left with a shortfall. In January I hope to meet all local authority managers to tease out this issue. We are all used to local authorities putting on the béal bocht and putting their hands out for money. However, one cannot get a bill from them. This puzzles me.
There is a specific reason for the surplus in respect of the islands. Provision has been made for an enormous amount of work on the islands. We had budgeted this year to commence work on Inis Mór pier. In fairness to the council, everything was ready to go at the end of August but a dispute arose in regard to a stone building on the pier in Kilronan used by fishermen but belonging to the county council. For the past two years the county council has sought vacant possession of the building without prejudice to anybody's rights to it and difficulties have arisen in this regard. I pay tribute to the island community who solved this problem among themselves. However, it took six weeks to do so and, given such matters are weather dependent, the contractor has decided not to commence work until the new year. As a result the expenditure in this regard will be carried over to next year.
We are in the meantime clearing backlogs in respect of other work. We will later rearrange our orders following which it is hoped this project will commence. There is unprecedented investment in our islands under the national development plan. Clare Island, Inishturk and Inishbofin have benefited enormously from this investment and it is now the turn of the Aran Islands.
Members made some interesting points in regard to Údarás na Gaeltachta. The system which I have operated with Údarás na Gaeltachta in the past few years has proved very beneficial to that organisation and has resulted in increases in spend in other areas of my Department. Údarás na Gaeltachta has received permission to recycle assets and to use the money gained to reinvest in the Gaeltacht. Therefore, even though there has not been much of an increase in the capital budget allocated by the Department to Údarás na Gaeltachta, the authority has been able to realise a great deal of resources. In most cases, the sale of these assets has served to secure the industries for the Gaeltacht — they would not be secured in the same way if they were in rented premises. If an industrialist buys the premises in which his business is based, he will face much more of a problem if he decides to move because he might not be able to offload the premises again. If he is in a rented premises, he can move out quite easily.
One of the good things is that we are getting an craiceann agus a luath ar seo. These are industrial buildings which would not be allowed to be sold on the open market for other than industrial purposes. If the owner buys the premises, we get the value of the premises and secure the industry better than it was ever secured before. We can then use the money for another project. This approach has proven very beneficial on the ground. In other cases, surplus assets which were not being used were sold.
I accept the point that has been made. I have been preaching the same gospel for a long time. It seems likely that multinationals will continue to direct their foreign direct investment largely to gateway towns and towns with third level institutions. However, very significant opportunities can result from native endeavour. Well educated and incredibly skilled young people have created some of the best industries in the Gaeltacht. If an Irish person from the regions is working 40 or 50 miles from a third level institution — Belmullet is over 50 miles from Castlebar, for example — he or she might not face the same psychological problems which might be encountered by a multinational.
I do not know if any of the members of the committee saw an exciting programme which was broadcast by TG4 in recent days. I refer to the awards ceremony recognising companies in various sectors which are based in the Gaeltacht. The companies in question, which have had a big influence in the regions, include language-based companies and companies based on natural resources, etc. Given that the judges were totally independent, I was slightly pleased that one of the awards was won by a timber mill in Corr na Móna which employs 250 people and with which I had a slight association in its early days.
It was interesting that all the companies, with one exception, were Irish-owned. SELC Éireann Teoranta, which is based in Belmullet, is a great company that uses superb technology. Bia Ghaoth Dobhair makes potato crisps. I have already mentioned the timber mill in Corr na Móna. Éire Composites Teoranta, which is based in Conamara, produces parts for windmills and aeroplanes. All of these companies are indigenously owned and indigenously driven, which is the way to go. The top people in this country no longer have any knowledge deficit when compared with top people in other countries.
I have said for a long time that we should attract people who are working in multinational companies, and have skill levels, PhDs and extensive knowledge, back to their own areas when they reach a certain age. That also applies to people like Mr. P.J. Fahy, who runs the timber mill in Corr na Móna, who learned their trade on the ground in some factory. Mr. Fahy might not have gone to too many universities, but he is one of the premier timber millers in the country. Such people might like to live in certain parts of the country, for lifestyle reasons, when they reach a certain age. There are many people in such circumstances.
I would like to talk about the Leader programme. Between 2000 and 2006, the Leader companies were given all the money that was available under the programme. I allocated a further €5 million at the end of the programme, under a different Estimates heading. All of the allocations had to be made by the end of 2006. Every bob of that money was allocated. All of the companies said they had passed the money they had received on in full. In other words, the Department gave money to the Leader companies, which then allocated that money to the individuals. The companies said they had achieved 100% allocation from the original funds and the extra €5 million I took out of the Exchequer under another subhead. However, the companies have until the end of March 2008 to make the claims and draw down the money. They were given all of 2007 and three months of 2008 in which to complete the process. We have to get the money by the end of 2008.
One often hears the jargon term "N+2" used in the context of the national development plan. That means one has two years — from the end of 2006, in this case — in which to tidy up one's business. I have no control over when the companies make the final claims. We are talking about €2 million from a total of €26 million. I think the companies would probably say they have all the money and that everyone is roaring and screaming to get it. However, we know what Irish people are like. If a match is due to start at 3 p.m., they will not be there at 2.45 p.m. In fact, if Dublin are playing, they will come at 3.05 p.m.
There has been a change in the last few matches.
I am a Dub, but I have noted that change. We know what would happen. All the claims would be made at the last minute. I would expect a high percentage spend. I cannot do anything more because all the money has been allocated.With regard to the local authority social inclusion programme, we did not spend all the money on co-ordination because the demands were not made.
I was asked about subhead K, grants for community and voluntary programmes, where there is a saving of €4.5 million. We have overspent on grants for locally based community groups. The spend is €7.8 million to date, compared with an estimated spend of €3 million. The saving has been made because the networks and federations receive their money in a three year tranche. By the time the advertisements were placed and the programme was rolled out almost one year had passed. Decisions are being made at the end of the year. The programme runs into the coming year and funding will be fully spent next year. The same happened with the volunteering programme. We made up some of the money by giving more local grants, which are very useful for the refurbishment of halls, provision of equipment and so on. The grants facilitate much good work. It was a good idea to spend an extra €4.8 million in that way.
Seven rural transport pilot schemes are being rolled out. They are operational and will be reviewed at the end of June 2008. The programme is a success but I await a more objective opinion. I am convinced of the need for such a service. The maintenance of community in rural Ireland is important. We hear much comment about socialising in public houses. In former times people went ag bothántaíocht in their neighbours' houses. When that disappeared, they began to go to public houses. They now stay in their own houses and do not meet anyone. That is a sad and lonely way to live.
Just as people in cities expect to get around at night, rural transport is a sensible idea. The schemes are administered by the rural transport initiative groups, community groups involved in everything from bingo to children's football matches. The programme is not being driven by a publicans' agenda. Listening to some commentators in the media one would think publicans were the cause of the abuse of alcohol. My experience of rural publicans is that, with very few exceptions, they run some of the best controlled establishments. This is not where the major abuse is taking place. There is a bigger problem with people drinking alone and young people buying alcohol in off-licences and drinking it under ditches and so on. In my experience, rural publicans normally keep a very strict house and have the interests of their customers at heart. The blackening of the name of all vintners and the claim that they are all trying to pour drink into people are not supported by my experience of what happens in rural Ireland. It is only fair to say this. I am not very interested in alcohol but social events in rural areas often take place in public houses and I see nothing wrong with people enjoying a social drink in moderation. I am not about to claim that going to public houses is dreadful. Many are not drinking alcohol, they are drinking Coca Cola. We will assess the scheme after a year and see whether I am right or wrong.
I thank the Minister and his officials for attending. I appreciate the wonderful work the Department has done in providing community facilities through its schemes. I would like to see these schemes expanded to cover the quasi-urban area of my constituency and many of the surrounding constituencies which have seen massive population growth and where there is a dearth of facilities. It seems we do not tick the right boxes in regard to the existing schemes, although we get funding under CLÁR and RAPID in a very small area. I feel very strongly about young people's facilities. I have met the Minister previously in this regard. We get nothing under that scheme because there is no drugs task force working in the area. I would like the Minister to consider the conurbation areas in particular in terms of expanding some of the existing schemes so that we might get some funding under them.
Will the RAPID programme progress in 2008?
The saving of €4.5 million in respect of grants for community and voluntary programmes seems fairly high. Is there a reason for that?
There was a large increase in the Vote under Towards 2016 for networks and federations. This was for national organisations. We had the money to put in, but by the time we got advertisements together, advertised in the newspapers, got in all the applications and sifted through them we had reached the end of the year. That programme will start at the beginning of next year. There was, therefore, a huge saving on that element. That was offset to some extent by the allocation of small grants and by increasing or doubling them this year. An announcement on the networks and federations schemes is imminent and they will start at the beginning of next year. That saving will not, therefore, occur again. It is a matter of timing. Some schemes are slow to get up and running, but when they start running, they start taking off.
I have a great interest in the RAPID programme and believe it is incredibly important, but I am disappointed that the draw-down of funds by local authorities and the HSE in respect of co-funded projects has been slower than expected so we are expecting savings of €2.3 million. The principal reason for this is that a specific scheme co-funded with the Department of Education and Science in respect of play areas, libraries and other facilities in schools in RAPID areas has been over-subscribed with a consequential delay in assessing and approving grants.
To put it simply, it is not that we did not release enough money. There was enough money and everything was agreed in terms of co-financing so that all the money would be spent. However, the work is not done and the claims are not coming in fast enough. However, if too much money was released and all my chickens came home to roost at the same time, I would exceed the Vote and be in serious trouble with the Department of Finance. Getting it exact is very tricky.
I would prefer if local authorities were lined up to go on the day I give them approval and sent in their bills for smaller schemes in three or four months. I would then have a much more accurate fix on the spend and could be much more clinical in hitting the targets under each subhead. My problem is that, in theory, we have reached the point where if we go any further we are in danger of exceeding the Vote, which we cannot do. In practice, the slow spend means there is not enough demand at the end of the year and we wind up with a saving we did not want. When I say we did not want the saving, I mean I would much prefer to see work done than to have a saving.
The Deputy mentioned the peri-urban areas, the new growing towns around Dublin and other cities. I concur with what the Deputy said. There has been a massive increase this year in the money allocated for tackling the drugs problem. It amounts to an extra €10 million. We are looking at the issue, in which my colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs with responsibility for the national drugs strategy and community affairs, Deputy Pat Carey, is very interested. We recognise that we must get ahead of the problem in the growing towns around Dublin such as those in counties Meath, Louth, Kildare and Wicklow and north Wexford. Towns which were considered sleepy and small a few years ago have mushroomed and are now major. We recognise there is a major problem, on which we are working.
The total allocation for the regional task forces this year was €8 million, which sum will be increased incrementally. The full cost per annum is €14 million.
I appreciate what the Deputy says about facilities. We must treat the towns mentioned as requiring special measures. However, I will add one caveat which applies to my own county as well as others, including that of the Deputy. From a planning perspective, it is absolutely vital that those involved have the sites for community facilities. This should form part of the planning process. No town plan should be adopted which does not, either by way of levies or direct land provision, provide for all the social and community facilities needed. Without the required sites, one can throw money at a project but the building will not be constructed. Planners in County Kildare and other counties have a huge role to play in ensuring the requisite sites are available when we agree funding.
I have two queries on funding provided for signage in Gaeltacht areas. The Minister is meeting county managers in January. I suggest he persuade them to go to Gaeltacht areas and correct incorrect spellings.
That does not only happen in Gaeltacht areas.
Why is it always necessary for local authorities to do the work? Can we not get the private sector to do it? The Minister was correct about the money allocated. I have been approached, as have other elected representatives, including councillors, and asked why it has not yet been spent. The Minister announced the sum to be allocated in January, February and March but the work has still not been done. Is it not possible to ask the private sector to do some of it? Why do we always have to go through the local authorities? While some are very efficient, others are very inefficient.
Could some projects be progressed under the rural social scheme, the one scheme that has worked? I would like to see more funding allocated to it and to see it being expanded. FÁS does a better job than the local authorities in doing a job in which local authorities have let down rural people. I said recently at Question Time that I would prefer the Minister to put money into the rural social scheme. Drainage is one item he and his Department should look at in this regard. Last weekend we had the first deluge of winter and roads in rural areas were closed because of flooding. These are simple jobs. If we had somebody to open drains, we would not have such problems. I saw people stuck on roads last weekend simply because local authorities had failed to do their job. I know the Minister will be concerned about conflict between the rural social scheme and the role of local authorities but the local authorities are failing whereas the rural social scheme is working. We should give them the funding and powers they need.
On signage, there are correct official versions of Irish language signs, whether for Charlestown, Westport or anywhere else. I cannot understand why local authorities cannot obtain the correct official versions and copy them onto signs. It is pure carelessness. It is frustrating for people who understand Irish to see signs displaying the wrong spelling of placenames such as Achill and so on.
I have been in contact on this issue with my colleague, the Minister for Transport, who is assuming responsibility for all national and non-national roads. This issue needs to be addressed. However, I have come to the conclusion that there is only one way of dealing with it, namely, local authorities should be required to remove all road signage which contains incorrect Irish spellings of placenames. People would not tolerate the erection of road signs which displayed in English the wrong spelling of placenames such as Westport and so on. They would be removed fairly quickly. We can supply the local authorities with the correct Irish spelling by way of computer from which they would have only to copy them. I often wish we could levy people who do things carelessly. Everyone can make a mistake now and again but doing so frequently is unconscionable.
The Deputy asked why we use local authorities on projects. Most of the work is now undertaken by way of private sector contract, such as work on the bridge in Achill and on all the piers. Local authorities handle the resources, as in the case of the National Roads Authority, in respect of planning, consultancies and so on. My Department employs only two engineers so I do not have the resources to undertake direct planning of major projects. I would prefer that where possible suitable projects are contracted out to the private sector which should ensure, as we do, that they are carried out to a high standard. I have been disappointed by the work on many projects and I, and my officials, have made known our views in this regard.
Issues such as quality of work and delivery are important. It has happened that people in local authorities have signed and submitted forms stating a project is ready to commence even though it has not been put out to tender. Local authorities could improve in terms of their delivery, integrity and performance. It is for this reason I propose to meet with county managers. These problems have a knock-on effect in my Department. It is hard to ensure good spend when matters are rushed at the end of the year as a result of let downs.
I had a great deal of money to spend this year and — I hope members will support me on this — I went to every local authority and told them they would get no more funding until they provided the Department with an accurate breakdown in respect of completion of every scheme sanctioned to date. Schemes sanctioned some time ago but no longer in operation are to be written off the books and resanctioned at a later date if required. If we do not do this, they will simply become liabilities which may never mature. Addressing this issue has been a difficult and tedious task. However, I intend to continue with it in the new year. It is in everybody's interest that we have good spend and proper programming and we should continue to fight this battle and win it. We must ensure that funding is spent expeditiously.
That is welcome news.
I have a final question for the Minister. I saw on sale in a supermarket the other day scallions from Argentina and potatoes from Holland.
With due respect, Deputy Ring, I do not believe that matter falls within the remit of this committee.
Yes, it does. The Minister is responsible for community and rural affairs. This is a rural issue.
I believe it falls under agricultural issues.
The Vice Chairman may not know much about scallions, potatoes and onions. Many of the schemes introduced by the Minister have worked well for rural Ireland. While I supported some of them and not others, many of them have worked well.
Would it be possible for the Minister and his Department to introduce an initiative which would encourage people to grow more produce? We are losing more and more people from rural Ireland. Fewer people are farming and depending on the land. At the same time, the country has gone the other way — we are importing. If representatives of the Green Party were present, they would agree with me about carbon emissions from lorries which come into this country. When I was travelling to Dublin last night, I saw many lorries travelling to the west of Ireland with fresh food. Nothing is being grown on some of the land in that part of the country. Could the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs establish a scheme to encourage people to grow a few potatoes, scallions or onions to sell in their own areas? It is a simple question. Such a scheme would save the State a great deal of money.
I have been doing some work of that nature. We have been giving very significant support to rural markets. One of the problems is that much of the work being done in this area is uneconomic. It would not pay a person in the west of Ireland to grow vegetables to sell commercially on a wholesale or retail basis — there would be no margin in it. The answer to this problem is found in the rural market. If one gets rid of one's produce by selling it at a local market on a Wednesday, Friday or Saturday — whatever day the market is on — one will get 100% of the take. We have used the rural social scheme and the Leader and CLÁR programmes to encourage the establishment of rural markets. We are encouraging local authorities to provide the back-up services, such as washing facilities, etc., which are needed to facilitate the development of good rural markets. My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Sargent, has been working on this matter.
If we have a rural market in a rural town, there has to be a system of accreditation. I was embarrassed one funny day when I opened a rural market, which I had not actually visited, in a certain town in the west of Ireland. I said I hoped I would not see oranges in the market, on the basis that although I had heard rumours of global warming, it could not be that extreme in the west of Ireland. When I went in the door of the market, I saw oranges for sale. Such experiences are not in keeping with the spirit of rural markets and farmers' markets, which has to be that the produce on sale — crafts, vegetables or fruit — comes from within 30 or 40 miles of the market. The markets will have to rely on seasonality — that is the way it goes. That is how I answer Deputy Ring's question about the best way to go forward. These markets are only attractive to farmers in such circumstances. It is not just a social issue — it is also an economic issue in that farmers get 100% of the profits. This form of business can be very profitable. People accept that produce varies on a seasonal basis.
I thank the Minister. It is clear that he is on top of his brief. He has answered all the questions without having to consult his officials.
They have me well briefed.
I pay tribute to the Minister for answering Deputy Ring's multitude of questions.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Minister and his officials, as well as the committee's members and officials, for their contributions and wish them a happy Christmas and a prosperous new year. I am sure we will meet again when meetings are scheduled in the new year.