Funds allocation - Preferential treatment by ministers

Ministers are appointed to represent the whole country, but some members of the Government have engaged in the naked preferment of their own constituencies, especially in matters like decentralisation and the allocation of sports grants.

John O’Donoghue, the Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism, has been brazen in the preferment of his own Kerry South constituency. His predecessor Jim McDaid did essentially the same thing in preferring sports organisations in his Donegal constituency.

The Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism (DAST) recommends the clubs or organisations that should get the grants, but this is worked on the basis of a conservative estimate of the money likely to be allocated to the department. Last year, the DAST assumed that it would have €52 million to allocate, but it actually got an extra €9m and Mr O’Donoghue allocated that as he wished.

Kerry clubs and organisations were allocated €4.47m, which was considerably more than counties with larger populations got. In fact, the Kerry total ranked third behind counties Dublin and Cork, with the much higher populations.

Donegal also did exceedingly well while Jim McDaid was minister. In 2000, Donegal received 6.4% of the overall budget, or €2.4m. It received only half that amount out of a much larger budget in 2003 after Mr O’Donoghue replaced Mr McDaid. On the other hand, Kerry organisations received 7.4% of the overall budget in 2004.

The department contends that the higher allocation to Kerry was just a coincidence. This is patently absurd.

It is more than a coincidence that the constituencies of the ministers involved in the allocation of the grants have consistently received more than their fair share.

This has been apparent not only in the grants announced by Mr McDaid and Mr O’Donoghue but also in allocations to Kildare, the constituency of former Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy.

Since becoming Minister for Finance in 1997 Mr McCreevy was responsible for the overall allocations to DAST, and his Kildare constituency fared much better than other counties of the same size in the allocation of these funds throughout his tenure in office.

It is noteworthy that the preponderance of political representations were made by Fianna Fáil deputies or senators. Opposition parties have accused Fianna Fáil of using these grants as a kind of political slush fund.

Ministers who have discriminated in favour of organisations in their own constituencies have, in essence, abused the trust of the electorate by using public money for their own political purposes. This is as unethical as it is unfair.

Jimmy Deenihan of the Fine Gael has called for the responsibility for funding to be taken out of the hands of the minister and given to a special board. There is no doubt that the system is being abused, but it is just as likely to be abused by the members of a board, which would not have the same kind of accountability as the minister.

A minister is accountable to the Dáil, and that is where Mr Deenihan and his colleagues should hold him answerable. They should demand that he answer the questions, which his officials have been dodging.