andMr. Mannion asked the Minister for Finance if the Government will make the same grants available in north Connemara as are available in the Gaeltacht area of County Galway.

North Connemara is eligible for the most favourable range of grants and incentives available in any non-Gaeltacht area. It is not the Government's intention to apply to this area the preferential range of grants which is available within the Gaeltacht.

Can the Minister give any good reason for a situation in which people living in similar type of terrain are not entitled to the same rate of grants? Why should there be this distinction simply because in one area the people speak Irish while in another they do not speak Irish?

North Connemara is eligible for the same favourable rate of grants as those available in any other non-Gaeltacht area but to bring grants for other areas up to the levels which apply in Gaeltacht areas would be to bring about an erosion of the special position of the Gaeltacht areas, a special position that has existed for many years and which has been recognised by successive Governments.

Would the Minister not agree that there should be no difference in the grants paid to people living in Gaeltacht areas and to those living in non-Gaeltacht areas particularly when the same type of conditions prevail?

That argument could be used in respect of any other part of the country that is adjacent to a Gaeltacht area. The present policy has been pursued by successive Governments.

Would the Minister not consider changing it?

We must move on to Question No. 5.