Alarm bells ringing over tourism grants

Minister gives slice of €8.4m to own constituency

MORE than 10% of an €8.4million fund for tourism projects around Ireland ended up going to Co Mayo, the constituency of the minister responsible for it.

Michael Ring made the announcement last week with 44 projects nationwide given between €20,000 and €500,000.

Three in his constituency received the maximum funding allowed for as part of the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme.

Fianna Fail’s Willie O’dea – whose county of Limerick got just €30,000 compared to €900,000 for Mayo – said there had been a pattern of this type of decision making from Mr Ring and his department.

He added: “We have been putting up with this for a number of years.

“In this case, Mr Ring has given hugely more proportionately to his own constituency.

“This is taxpayers’ money – the minister is supposed to be minister for the whole country, rather than just his own constituency and it should be done evenly. These funds are not there for any minister to win support in his own area.”

In total, the three projects were awarded €900,000 with two given €200,000 each and another receiving €500,000.

Mayo’s share of the fund was 10.7% in a county where the national share of the population is just below 2.75%.

The next highest award made to a single county was Westmeath, which received €868,000 for three projects, followed by Longford with €650,845 for two projects.

A statement from the Department of Rural and Community Development said awards were made on the basis of the proposals submitted and how much money had been looked for in their application.