I must make a very strong objection to the fact that I am losing out on my priority time. The Minister had completed his reply. How can he square this circle? He has 36,000 applications for reconstruction grants and only £24 million in the kitty to pay those grants this year. He said that not all the applications have yet been approved. Assuming only 24,000 of the 36,000 applications are approved and taking the average grant to be about £1,000, that would amount to £24 million. How can the Minister say there is enough money in the kitty this year when we are now only at 12 February?
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers (Resumed).
The Deputy should not be worried about it.
I have had one objection from a clown over there. I do not want another one.
I am looking at another one.
Neither the Deputy nor I can make an accurate estimation of the value of each application on hand. The value of the grant is determined by the inspector on the ground. The number of inspections carried out to date is 12,500 and the number of approvals is approximately 5,000. The Deputy should adjust his attitude to the amount of money he thinks should be made available. Many applicants apply for more grants than they are entitled to. Some applicants may be debarred if they have received a grant in the past seven years or less. This can only be determined by checking the records. Notwithstanding what I have already said, it is much too early even to hazard a rough estimate of the value of applications on hand, given that we are not yet in a position to establish the relationship between applications, approvals and payments. This can be attempted only when the scheme is in operation for some time. This question is undoubtedly premature. The Deputy might care to table it again in a few months.
Based on the fact that 5,000 grants have been approved out of a total of 12,500 inspections, it appears that about 18,000 applications will be approved, roughly 50 per cent. The grants vary from £800 to £4,000. I was taking a very conservative figure of £1,000. The value of the applications to date will be about £18 million. The annual figure in the Estimate is only £24 million. How can the Minister justify putting in such a derisory figure when he is claiming this grant scheme to be such a success? Does it mean that grants will not be paid?
I know that this scheme has annoyed Members opposite but nevertheless I give them credit for being the most assidious in circulating application forms throughout their constituencies. One Deputy from over there has opened an office in his constituency. A total of 120,000 applications forms have been sent out. The country has been saturated with them by Deputies and other people have applied directly. Returns have been coming in since before Christmas and we have probably received the bulk of applications for the whole year. The provision of £24 million is a realistic estimate. As the year progresses we will see which of us is right.
I want to object that I am not able to get on to the other questions dealing with areas where the Minister has not been spending money and making arbitrary cuts in subsidies. Can the Minister give an assurance that all grant applications this year will be paid this year?
The amount of money in the Estimate is £24 million. If the grants meet that sum, they will be paid. If they exceed that, the Deputy is well aware how one has to get extra money.
It is one more trick to keep within the current budget deficit projections in the budget.
It is an excellent and very successful scheme, causing Deputy Burke a great deal of annoyance.
It is an arbitrary figure of £24 million so that it will keep within the current budget deficit. The Minister will have to come in with a Supplementary Estimate later on.
That concludes Question Time.
With your permission, I wish to raise on the Adjournment the problem of the radio-therapy unit in Cork Regional Hospital.
I told the Deputy I would communicate with him.
It is really urgent.
I allowed this last Thursday and you were not here to accept it. It is unreasonable now to come in and badger me about not allowing it.
You know those ads about an Anadin.
I appeal to all Members of the House to co-operate in dealing with Question Time in a more businesslike way. Efforts have been made to improve it. It did improve in the beginning but has gone into reverse gear again. We got through only 13 questions today. That generated dissatisfaction and we had the episode we have seen.
I had priority questions down and I did not get them answered. It is an appalling situation. They now die.
When this new system came in we tried to make it work. We disposed of 13 questions today. On another occasion when 12 or 13 questions were disposed of, Deputy Vincent Brady, in a most responsible way, came into the House and complained bitterly about the lack of progress that was being made. I told him I had been doing my best to move on but he said my best was not good enough. As a matter of fact, he said it was up to me to get on with the work. There are far too many supplementary questions and far too many speeches rather than questions. Think it over.
The broad issue of the construction industry was raised today and you handled it very well.