Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With regard to funding, the Chair mentioned funding inflation on projects. I suppose this is a mixture of the Department and the Government. When Paul Kelly of Fáilte Ireland was here a number of weeks ago, I mentioned a specific project we are working on locally that secured funding some years ago, which is the Norman heritage village at the Knights and Conquests Heritage Centre close to my home area. However, we have run into problems and delays, and a lot of that is due to finance. Paul Kelly said on that day that Fáilte Ireland would match, percentage-wise, the increase up to a certain point. Will the Government and the Department do so also? I know it came through the Department of Rural and Community Development but, ultimately, it is within the tourism remit to make sure that project gets off the ground. The money was probably sanctioned four years ago under the rural regeneration scheme to develop the project with the local community, Longford County Council and Fáilte Ireland. However, as I said, to get diggers onto the ground, we are going to need an increased commitment to that project from the Government to make sure we can develop it as was planned, or even at a slightly reduced scale to bring it back to figures that are achievable for every organisation.

We really need it in north Longford. We have seen the success that Center Parcs has brought to the midlands but particularly to south Longford. We need to balance that tourism product across the county. I think we have a unique opportunity in Granard but we are going to need further support because, to be honest, it would be a huge ask for the local authority to try to bridge that gap to make sure that project gets off the ground. I know it is not for Mr. Ó Lionáin’s Department but it comes under the tourism remit. We need support and for that extra funding to be put in place to make sure that project takes off.