"When you look at some of the places I allocated money lately - like in Aughleam where I gave half a million euros for a hall, I got beaten two-to-one there [Ring got 91 votes while Sinn Fein's Rose Conway-Walsh got 191 votes]. In Mulranny, very substantial funding was provided to revitalise the whole area, and I got 42 votes [Jerry Cowley got 15 votes], so you have to wonder, do the people want delivery? I don't know," stated Minister Ring.
It could be a case of 'eaten bread is soon forgotten'.


In my opinion, it is the repeated use of the funding as a benchmark that is likely to have a longer-term impact. For example, a couple of months ago in the Dail (Parliament), a comparison was made between the public funding of the greyhound industry and the funding provided for the victims of sexual violence. Ruth Coppinger said "Your government gave 25 million to the entire support sector, yet you saw fit to give 17 million to a cruel and ailing greyhound industry". The outgoing Taoiseach (Prime Minister) responded by highlighting the increase in funding for victims of sexual violence. He could only limit the damage done by the comparison. Regardless of the outcome of the election, some incoming Ministers will find themselves explaining funding in the context of the money going to the greyhound industry. These comparisons, rather Saturday's vote, are likely to have a bigger impact.