This week, I and many of my Government colleagues welcomed the over €12 million allocated in local sports partnership grants. What was not welcomed was the method of the county breakdown in which it was allocated. It is not just about this round of grants; it is across many grants that are distributed through local authorities and local community development committees. There is a narrative in here that Dublin gets everything, but that is not borne out in the facts of those community-type grants.

If we look at Dublin City or Dún Laoghaire or Fingal, they all received broadly similar figures of around €450,000, as Offaly did. Offaly has a population of 90,000, while many of those areas have populations of 300,000 or 400,000 and, in the case of Dublin city, 600,000. South Dublin County Council received €350,000 despite having a population six times the size of counties like Longford and Carlow. I am afraid to mention too many places because my colleagues will be claiming that they delivered.

Given the cross-departmental responsibility the Department of the Taoiseach has, will it examine this issue? We understand it cannot be strictly per capita, but there is an unfairness here. Our local urban villages cannot access the town and village renewal scheme, for example. This is an issue that we need to look at. Will the Tánaiste work with his colleagues in both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to see if we can get a better deal for Dublin?

Is there a split in the ranks of the Government?

You mentioned a lot of counties there. Deputy Clendennen nearly jumped over the seat when you said Offaly.

I did not mention Wicklow, Tánaiste.

You did not mention Wicklow, which I appreciate. The point is a serious one because we quite rightly have a Department of rural and community affairs and it is doing very good work. We have a number of schemes as well. There are obviously issues in areas of particularly fast-growing populations and areas of increased population density. Dublin as a city and a county, and I would go as far to say the greater Dublin area, does have particular pressures in terms of population growth as well. There is never an exact science in relation to this. Population is one index, as are need and deprivation; there are a variety of indexes. It is a fair point that the Deputy makes. I will discuss it with both the Minister for sport and the Minister of State for sport. Perhaps it is a piece that we could get the Irish Government Economic Evaluation Service to look at just to make sure we are meeting the needs of all of our country's communities, urban and rural, but I am pleased this Government is increasing funding right across this country.

Absolutely. It is very welcome.