THE Minister of State for European Affairs, Mr Gay Mitchell, and the Democratic Left TD, Mr Eric Byrne, have clashed over the allocation of EU money to projects in their Dublin South Central constituency.
Following reports that Mr Mitchell had given substantial funding from the Local Development Grant Scheme to the constituency, the junior Minister accused Mr Byrne of "drumming up a story" among journalists which attempted to discredit and "raise questions" about the allocation.
Mr Mitchell has discretion over the scheme, which involves a total fund of £1,123,000, and £237,000 has been allocated to 12 projects in Dublin South Central. The Minister said last night that all the grants for his constituency had now been given, totalling about 23 per cent of the overall fund. However, figures had been "manufactured" to suggest that he had allocated half the fund to Dublin South Central.
Mr Byrne denied that he tried to foment controversy for the Minister, adding that the figures were in the public domain anyway.