Dr. Stjohn O'Connor:

On the question of whether the €5 million fund will be available to boost the BCPs, it is explicitly targeted at the BCPs and hub development. To answer the Deputy's second question on the difference between the funds and having a coherent approach, if we step back 12 months, this issue was not as topical as it is now. The world has changed and our response has changed. Previously, for 2020 - obviously the budget was allocated in the previous year - hubs that were applying for works up to a certain value applied through the town and village renewal scheme, and if an applicant was seeking to construct a hub or do substantial works, he or she applied through the regional rural development fund. That was appropriate and worked quite well, and it was generally considered to be coherent and people understood it.

The world has changed in 2020. More was drawn down for those smaller works than was probably originally envisaged, but that is okay and we are able to flex with the demand and we have responded to that demand quite well. Around €670,000, which is a substantial amount, was spent. There were very few counties that did not benefit from that in terms of the BCPs.

The idea behind the €5 million fund is to bring greater coherence for next year. Looking at the bigger hubs, such as the PorterSheds and Ludgates of this world, €5 million would not go very far in developing those kinds of hubs. The RRDF is still the appropriate vehicle because it is a much larger source of funds, whereas everything else could fall into the €5 million fund. In designing that fund, we will take account of what we are learning around the hubs that are out there and what the demand is. Earlier this year, through our Covid response and the Western Development Commission, WDC, we allocated out about €180,000 to hubs in the AC area for Covid response. That was done at very short notice and the WDC did a great job, and we learnt a huge amount about what is required to make a hub Covid-ready. We are using this data collection exercise from the interdepartmental group as a means of informing how we design that €5 million fund so that we get the best bang for our buck.