Off icial in Ring’s department voiced reservations over Mayo project funding
MINISTER Michael Ring allocated almost €120,000 in funding to a project in his own constituency despite warnings from civil servants it could set ‘problematic precedents’.
A department official said the project appeared to have the least merit of four proposals seeking an extra grant on top of what they had already received, Freedom of Information documents reveal.
The Kiltimagh Velo project – which is turning a disused railway line into a tourist attraction cycle path – ended up getting the single largest funding allocation of any council project last year.
It was one of four proposals – along with a greenway in Longford, a flooding fund in Donegal, and a local improvement scheme in Limerick – that went forward for extra money. A civil servant set the Mayo project – in which the local authority sought 80% of €147,550 additional expenditure it had incurred – in the context of the other projects.
A report in December said the Mayo scheme ‘seems to have the least compelling case for additional support’.
However, Mr Ring later confirmed that he would fund all four applications.
The Kiltimagh project was one of dozens funded by Mr Ring in Mayo last year. Altogether, the county got just over €8m from the Department of Rural and Community Development, which was the fourth highest total in the country. Only Dublin, Cork, and Donegal – which got extra allocations due to major flood damage – received more money in 2017.
Mayo took in 6.1% of the €131.9m funding granted last year, even though its population makes up less than 3% of the national total.
A spokesman for the minister said applications to the department had been made on their own merits.
The Velo project was supported ‘on the basis of its potential impact as a local tourism attraction’.
The spokesman pointed out that Mayo, the fourth highest recipient of funds from the Department of Rural and Community Development, is the third largest county.