Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome those comments. I have looked at reports from 2019 and the allocated budget spend was €16 million so it is good to see it is being increased. I am currently working with the community in Erris and it is working with Tusla officials.

The people involved have set up a steering committee from five local parishes on recommendations from a previous application. They have also done a needs analysis on the region.

This region has issues around access and distance to services. There is also depopulation and lack of employment. The witnesses will hear about this application and much more about it. I look forward to working with Tusla on it because it is crucial that we deliver more services into communities. The core principle of the family resource centre programme is community and that it is needs-led. One action we can take post Covid is to try to deliver services better into communities and let them work and support people on the ground. It is an important element.