John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)

No apologies have been received. I wish to advise that Deputy Conor D. McGuinness is substituting for Deputy O'Reilly today. I remind members of the constitutional requirement that they must be physically present within the confines of the Leinster House complex in order to participate in public meetings. I will not permit a member to participate where they are not adhering to this constitutional requirement. Therefore, a member who attempts to participate from outside the precincts will be asked to leave the meeting. In this regard, I ask any members partaking via Microsoft Teams to confirm, prior to making their contribution to the meeting, that they are on the grounds of the Leinster House campus.

Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable, or otherwise engage in speech that would be regarded as damaging to the good name of the person or entity. Therefore, if their statements are potentially defamatory in respect of an identified person or entity, they will be directed to discontinue their remarks and it is imperative they comply with any such directive. I remind all those in attendance to ensure their mobile telephones are switched off or in silent mode.

The first item on the agenda is to consider the Revised Estimates for the Public Services 2025, Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht. I welcome the Minister, Deputy Calleary; the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer; and their officials to the meeting to discuss the Revised Estimates for Vote 42. While the committee has no role in approving the Estimates, it is an ongoing opportunity for the committee to engage and examine departmental expenditure, to make the budgetary process more transparent and to engage in a meaningful way on relevant performance issues. The Revised Estimates for Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht were presented to the Dáil on 17 June 2025. The Department has an important function in working to promote rural and community development and to support vibrant, inclusive and sustainable communities throughout Ireland. We, as representatives, see the issues that arise on a daily basis for people across the length and breadth of the country. Examination of the allocation, the impacts, the outputs and critically, the outcomes, are key metrics this committee takes seriously. We will engage with the Department on improving performance budgeting. I now call on the Minister, Deputy Calleary, to make some brief opening remarks.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

Ar son an Aire Stáit, an Teachta Buttimer, agus mé féin, gabhaim buíochas leis an gcoiste as ucht an deis a bheith anseo inniu. I thank the committee for the invitation to attend to discuss and seek approval for a Further Revised Estimate 2025 for the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht. As committee members will be aware, with the welcome transfer of the Gaeltacht function to my Department, a Further Revised Estimate is required to reflect the transfer of functions and associated funding. Mar is eol do bhaill an choiste freisin, tá coiste difriúil ar chúrsaí teanga agus an Ghaeltacht. Bhí mé os comhair an choiste sin aréir le haghaidh an REV sa choiste sin. I look forward to working with the committee over the next number of years and to ensuring that the excellent progress made in recent years by my Department will continue during the course of this term of the Government.

For 2025, gross expenditure of €575 million is budgeted, which consists of €317 million in current expenditure and €258 million in capital expenditure. My Department also has a capital carryover of €2.2 million for the Gaeltacht programme area from 2024 into 2025. In terms of the split across programme areas, €212.7 million is allocated for the rural development and the islands programme area; €249.5 million is allocated for the community development programme; a further €6 million is allocated for the work of the Charities Regulator; and €106.7 million is allocated for the Gaeltacht programme area.

The €212.7 million provided for the rural development programme, including the islands, is made up of €170.4 million in capital funding and €42.3 million in current funding.

Capital funding is of particular importance for the rural development programme. The funding allocated in 2025 will ensure continued delivery under schemes including LEADER, the rural regeneration and development fund, RRDF, town and village renewal, the local improvement scheme and CLÁR. These schemes are well established and are contributing to positive impacts for towns, villages and rural areas throughout the country.

With regard to the allocations for each area in 2025, funding for the RRDF is being maintained at €60 million; funding of €42 million is being provided for the LEADER programme; funding for the town and village renewal scheme, TVRS, is increasing by €1 million to €20 million; an additional €2 million is bring provided for CLÁR to bring it to €11 million; and funding for the LIS is being increased by €2 million, bringing it to €15 million for 2025.

With regard to LEADER funding, I want to note the importance of the current negotiations at EU level on the multi-annual financial framework. I will be working with the Minister, Deputy Heydon, and the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, to ensure that the LEADER programme is maintained as a core aspect of the next CAP funding period.

I must also note the importance of the €42.3 million in current funding for the rural development programme, which is an increase of €2.7 million on last year. This will fund areas such as the walks scheme, the Western Development Commission and Connected Hubs. The increased funding has also helped to secure support for Tidy Towns groups, agriculture shows and transport services to the islands.

In my short time as Minister I have already seen the impact of the supports delivered by my Department across the country. The schemes in place are assisting every town, village and rural area. The range of schemes ensures that all communities can benefit. I look forward to working with the committee to ensure that support for and, most importantly, the impact of these schemes are maintained and measured in the coming years.

As regards the community development programme, Deputy Jerry Buttimer, the Minister of State with responsibility for community development and charities, is with me today to discuss his areas of responsibility.

The Revised Estimate will see a funding allocation of €249.5 million for 2025, with €187 million of that in current funding and €62.4 million in capital funding. In addition, there is €6 million in current funding allocated for the Charities Regulatory Authority.

Important core funding allocations for community development in 2025 include €72.5 million for the SICAP and other related supports, which is an increase of €2.5 million; €55.4 million for the community services programme, which is an increase of €3 million; funding of €23.8 million for supports for the community and voluntary sector, which includes some increased funding for volunteer centres and philanthropy supports; and €7.3 million in funding for the PEACEPLUS programme. There has also been an increase in funding for the Charities Regulatory Authority, from €5.4 million in 2024 to €6 million in 2025.

With regard to capital funding for community development, there is €22 million to support the community enhancement area, including supports for the community centre investment fund. There is also non-core funding of €25 million under the community recognition fund to finance projects approved under this scheme. Capital funding for libraries development has also increased slightly to €7 million for 2025.

For many communities these community development schemes help to ensure the provision of key services. They provide training and employment opportunities, they provide social supports for vulnerable people and they help to ensure that communities have places to meet and socialise.

As I mentioned earlier, and as we discussed yesterday evening, the Gaeltacht programme has been voted on, and there will be €108.9 million in funding, including €2.2 million in capital carryover, available for this area in 2025. While I do not propose to cover the programme here today, I emphasise that the new Department has three core functions that align really well together and can support one another in achieving our objectives. I can already see how well the areas are working together. I thank the officials on both sides of the Department for their work on the transfer of functions. We have already co-ordinated some of our programmes to ensure that Gaeltacht areas are given specific representation. We will continue to work to ensure that we deliver on our mission in a cohesive manner in the coming years.

This Revised Estimate for 2025 shows the Government's continued strong commitment to rural and community development, to our islands agus do mhuintir na Gaeltachta. It provides the funding necessary to ensure that our schemes and programmes continue to support rural areas and communities right across the country, including in our Gaeltacht communities and on our islands.

I thank the committee for its time. I look forward, along with my colleague the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, to answering any questions members may have.

John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)

Thank you, Minister. We will go straight into questions from members of the committee. First up is Deputy McGuinness.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. Tá sé cúpla uair a chloig ó bhíomar ag déanamh an jab céanna i dtaobh cúrsaí Gaeltachta agus Gaeilge. Tá mé fíorbhuíoch as a chur i láthair. Tá cúpla ceist agam.

In the introduction to the Revised Estimates briefing that has been prepared, the Minister speaks of excellent progress in his Department. I do not for a moment question the work that is going on within the Department and the diligence of those who are doing it, but that "excellent progress" line stands in contrast with the experience of rural communities experiencing decline and depopulation, notwithstanding the excellent work of local development companies and the communities within them, precisely, as we have discussed before, because of a lack of housing opportunities for young families in particular but also a lack of public services, be they GPs, An Garda Síochána or post offices. These networks and these supports that were there for people, these public services, just do not seem to be there in the same numbers. That is creating a crisis in rural communities, many of which are facing a demographic cliff edge. I do not see a whole lot in the priorities and the text in front of us that seeks to address that. I understand that the provision of gardaí is a matter for the Department of Justice and that the development of housing is a matter for the Department of housing, but bringing this all together and addressing the needs of rural communities is a matter for the Minister's Department and for him as Minister.

Under section 3, something that jumped out at me is that of the 21 key priorities for 2025, half begin with the word "continue" or "continued". That, to me, does not give a huge amount of confidence in the view that things may need to change and that we need to step things up a gear if we are to address those issues effectively, particularly in rural communities but in communities both urban and rural, if I am being honest. It is just something I said I would mention just to throw it out there. Somebody looking at that would see "continue the implementation", "continued oversight", "continue the effective delivery", "continue to deliver tangible ..." and would not get a sense of what is new, what the big idea is or what will change.

I mention the carryover of €2.2 million of the capital budget from the Gaeltacht and Gaeilge side. What does that relate to? Is there any such carryover on the capital side in the other two large parts of the Minister's Department, rural development and community development?

Chair, do I have a certain amount of time?

John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)

Yes.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

Or will I just put my questions?

John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)

Yes. Put the questions. You have approximately five minutes, but we will get around to everybody, and then you will have repeat opportunities, Deputy, if you wish.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

Super. Thank you.

In addition, there seems to be a €5 million decrease in rural capital on 2024 in terms of the rural development LEADER programme. That is very worrying in light of what is happening in rural Ireland and in light of the administrative and governance costs on the LEADER companies. There seems to be a 5% drop in the community enhancement fund as well, if I am reading it right, so I query that. While I welcome the additional moneys towards CLÁR, will some of that money go towards a reform or a review of the CLÁR programme? I think it is depending on very old data sets in terms of levels of deprivation in rural communities that might not stand up, and there might be a need to review that.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

First, I will respond to the Deputy's overall remarks about our key priorities.

The key scaffolding document for the Department is Our Rural Future. We are involved in a sensitive consultation about rewriting Our Rural Future at the moment. We have had public meetings, including an online meeting yesterday. The document will be published at the end of this year or early next year. We have further consultation to do on it. That will set the priorities.

I live in a rural community. I absolutely know about the challenges of public services, but it is also important to note that from 2011 to 2022 the Central Statistics Office, CSO, data shows a 7% increase in the population of highly rural or remote areas. The OECD, which is independent, has shown that rural or remote regions in Ireland recorded the highest population growth between 2001 and 2021 among all OECD countries. We recognise that within that there are areas that have experienced substantial population decline. That is why we are targeting our programmes. All our programmes are relatively new and need time to bed in. It is not a case of just continuing to work on priorities, it is about allowing time to bed them in.

We are revising all the CLÁR areas at the moment to ensure we have the most up-to-date targets and we will have maps to that effect prepared.

Regarding public services, such as health, An Garda Síochána and housing, there are issues for other Departments, but in the context of our revision of Our Rural Future, we will be highlighting opportunities and challenges and engaging with other Departments on their plans.

It is just a programme cycle with the LEADER programme. It goes through a cycle, as the Deputy will be aware from his experience, of high demand and wind down. It is currently beginning to rack up demand. That is what is reflected.

The Gaeltacht carry-over was predominantly from Údarás na Gaeltachta. We are working on capital programmes with Údarás na Gaeltachta as we discussed yesterday evening and some shared island projects were also carried over.

I have dealt with the priorities area. The original 2024 Revised Estimate for rural funding was €205 million. This year, we are at about €212 million so we are continuing to grow the funding.

I endorse what the Deputy said and thank the communities that are engaging with us and with local development companies. Without the Department's funding and without the officials in my Department working with those local development companies, that work could not happen. We are continuing to make sure we can measure its impact during the course of this next term.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

Chair, may I ask one more question? I do not have a clock so I do not know whether I am over the five minutes.

John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)

It is fine. I am keeping an eye on it.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

On the statistic the Minister gave about population increase in rural communities, for my understanding, do those rural communities include towns such as Midleton, Clonmel and Carlow, that is, larger county towns, or are we talking about smaller towns, villages and countryside areas? There is obviously population growth taking place across the State, but my concern is that it is concentrated in significant and large towns where there is increasing demand and that people are being removed from the support networks and communities they grew up in.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

I do not have the breakdown of the figure. I would be happy to provide it to the Deputy. However, we should not forget that rural towns are important too. They are the important anchors for rural communities. We need healthy rural towns to feed healthy rural communities and vice versa. I will have to come back to the committee with that figure.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

I accept that entirely. We need these towns. They are very important. Every town, every urban rural community, is under pressure for housing, but larger urban towns are under huge pressure. It seems that public policy, that of local authorities and the State, is driving people from rural communities into these larger towns, heaping demand on demand while hollowing out the rural communities that surround them in many cases, and they are also important. I am not the only person saying that. It is coming from local authorities, the GAA and rural development companies very strongly. They are seeing it on the ground.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

That is there, but equally, there is evidence to show fantastic life in some areas. I was in Feohanagh in Limerick last Thursday evening where we reopened a former parochial house that has been repurposed as a community hub. That is being supported by my Department through the community centres investment fund, CCIF, and LEADER, driven by a local group of volunteers. To see the vibrancy and ambition in that community for its next plan is fantastic. We have plans, supports and scaffolding to work with communities. I want to do that in the smallest rural area, but also - and this is important; the Minister of State is leading on our work - in urban areas. Community is the key part of that definition.

Peter Roche (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister and the Minister of State. I thank them and their officials for being with us.

I have a contribution to make rather than a question to ask. It is based on my experience. I happen to be part of the board of Galway Rural Development of which I have been the chairperson for quite some time. The Minister may have met our CEO in recent times. Extraordinary things happen with any funding that is provided for companies and the Galway Rural Development company is doing extraordinary work reaching out to areas that are, by and large, starved of investment in small projects and schemes.

I will mention some statistics. We have to be a little parochial and in the west of Ireland, I feel, we sometimes do not shout loudly enough. In Galway east, we received €37 per person from LEADER, compared with €97 per person in Roscommon, €76 per person in County Offaly, €64 per person in Mayo and €53 per person in Clare. Moving across to Connemara in my own county it is €79 per person. I see a problem therein. It is an unjust way of dividing the funding. It is not based on socioeconomic or other justifiable profile. It is like a continuation of underfunding by the Department as our local authority suffered exactly the same fate. This is exacerbated by the removal of the additional funding for the food and co-operation projects. An Exchequer funding project needs to be put in place to rebalance our continued underfunding in east Galway.

On the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, the volume of IPAS and Ukrainians in the county has clearly not been met with a proportionate increase in a new arrivals budget. The current additional allocation is insufficient. As for SICAP, there is only so much we can do with it without substantial additional funding. I will use the example of the Corralea Court Hotel in Tuam, which is one of the new centres for IPAS. Our SICAP people do not have the financial resources to be able to reach out and continue to provide the services they are craving.

I am one of the greatest advocates of and believers in rural and community development. I have a long association with it. The figures I gave are an indicator of why, from a Galway east perspective, we need to be brought up to the same level as others. Some outstanding work is being done and I want that to continue, along with the LEADER company, Galway Rural Development and the outstanding work it does and the people it employs who are reaching out to these communities. I wish that anomaly to be addressed, if possible.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

I absolutely endorse everything the Deputy said about Galway Rural Development. It is a super organisation. I have met its members twice in the past six months since I took up office, most recently in Mountbellew where they have done a lot of fantastic work. They are also really good in the remit of my other Department, the Department of Social Protection, around community employment, the rural social scheme, RSS, and Tús.

The LEADER funding allocations are done on the basis of deprivation. That is the model. The Deputy gave a breakdown, but even in a county as big as Galway, we see differences. We are consistently looking at the LEADER programme to make it as effective as possible.

Our priority at the moment is to make sure the new programme is up and running but also to defend the budget in the European context. That is our main priority for the next 18 months as we get to the MFF process within Europe.

The Department has significantly funded a number of initiatives across east Galway. Last week, the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, opened a new development in Portumna. The old courthouse has been refurbished into a new community facility. We have done a lot of work on the Bia centre in Athenry which we funded through the RRDF. Deputy Roche has done on a lot of work on that. It is a fantastic example. We want to do more work on that. In addition, there is Dexcom in Athenry and the new school developments. It is a very good example of a town that is getting very focused support from other Departments. The town is being rebuilt and reimagined. We will continue to work across the towns in the region to attract further support.

The Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, leads on SICAP and I am happy for him to speak to that.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy Roche for his comments and also for the work he and the development company do in his area.

The budget for SICAP this year was €52.5 million, which represents an increase of €1.5 million on last year. At its core, it is about supporting and working with community groups, becoming more involved in areas and helping people to be able to avail of other Government services. In the round last year, SICAP supported 3,100-plus community organisations, which represent almost 32,400 people. It is about allowing people access to training and education; working with people who are unemployed and those who are looking to get a transition from unemployment into work.

I do not have the breakdown in terms of per capita funding for Galway but I am happy to talk to the Deputy about it. As he knows, SICAP is an extraordinary programme that has worked very well. He has been very strong in his support of it. I am happy to sit down with him and discuss the per capita piece for Galway and see if the Minister can review the funding mechanism or allocation. In fairness, SICAP has worked well.

Peter Roche (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State. The Minister said the funding is intended to address deprivation. How is that measured in the overall context?

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

It goes back to the work we do with Pobal, which has the statistics from censuses. Pobal uses that data and various income data and it is our main provider of such analysis. I am happy to engage with the Deputy on that space.

Peter Roche (Galway East, Fine Gael)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire.

John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister and the Minister of State on my own behalf. Does Deputy Aird wish to speak?

William Aird (Laois, Fine Gael)

First, I apologise for being late but it was not my fault. The train was 15 minutes late. I will have to talk to the Minister for Transport.

I welcome both the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputies Calleary and Buttimer, here this morning. I hope the Minister does not mind me saying it, but I look upon him as the Santa Claus of Dáil Éireann because he has so much money to give out. It is a great portfolio that he holds. In all my years on the county council, we had so much funding and this programme made such a difference to us. LEADER and other such programmes were a great help. We could not have achieved what we did without the funding. One of the most recent projects in my time was the building of a new library. The Minister's predecessor was down to open it. The library is fantastic. We could not have done what we did without the funding. We got criticism at the time because of the quality of the work and the building we constructed. The footfall into the library is unprecedented - much more than we expected. It is a whole new era. I want to acknowledge the funding provided.

I want to ask the Minister about one area in particular, which he will be familiar with from dealing with public representatives in his own area of Mayo. Even if we quadruple the funding today for local improvement schemes, LIS, we would still only be able to get 50% of the way. I accept that it is very difficult. I gave many years on the local authority. I am aware of cases where there are three, four or five people up a roadway where nothing has been done to it for 25 or 30 years. I put in applications for the local improvement scheme, in the same way as everybody else here has done, but there is no light at the end of the tunnel. We must be aware that everything has changed. All these people are now paying the household charge. In fairness to them, when they come into my clinic, as people do in the clinics of any other representative, they ask what they are getting for paying their household charge. As the year goes on, if the Minister has any extra money, which was often the case in the local authority, we were always delighted to get it, but I cannot stress enough to the Minister and his officials the importance of the local improvement scheme. There must be a cut-off point of five or six years. I am aware of people who have been waiting for it for ten years. That is one point I would like to make.

I support the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme. I thank the Minister for all the work that has been done in that regard. I do not know what we can do about the problem in that regard for communities and local authorities. We need a strategic land bank to purchase land on an ongoing basis, as it becomes available, for recreational purposes. We must look forward ten to 20 years in areas where there is a significant amount of building. Despite what is being said in Leinster House currently, I have never seen so many houses being built in every town and village throughout the country. I say to the Minister and the Minister of State that we need recreational facilities for people, otherwise we will run into trouble. This needs to be supported through the local authorities. They do their best. I was involved in the Estimates meetings for many year. We will put our shoulder to the wheel but we need a little bit of support. Funding would be very much appreciated. As the Minister is aware, it is very important to have recreational facilities built in tandem with housing projects. Given the increased density of housing projects, compared with when we started in local authorities, it is important to have recreational projects done in tandem with the developments. I thank the Minister and the Minister of State. In fairness, we cannot be criticised for asking for support for various areas of importance. All we can do is ask.

I also want to ask about the community recognition fund to support Ukrainian refugees. We had it in Stradbally and especially in Rathdowney in my county. We built modular homes there for them. It is a beautiful project. Will the Minister continue to provide funding to encourage communities by way of giving incentives to soccer clubs, local GAA clubs, badminton clubs and so on, to assist Ukrainians to get involved in the community? I thank the officials here today who came up with that idea. It was very welcome.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Aird. The LIS is a major priority for me. It is important to put it into context. Since the scheme was re-introduced in 2017 by the former Minister, Michael Ring, some 4,816 roads around the country have been improved. That involved an investment by the Department of nearly €170 million. We know the backlog that exists and we are trying to address it. We are proactively looking for savings to top it up for 2025. The previous Minister, Heather Humphreys, rightly introduced a two-year window for it so that local authorities can plan. That has expanded access to the fund and increased demand for it. The LIS is very important. The Department is very much aware of it. Any savings that we accrue during the year will go to the LIS.

It is interesting because we are also looking at the per head expenditure from councils. There are big variations in what councils are charging for LIS. It goes from €15.60 per sq. m up to €49.15 per sq. m depending on the council. We need to get a handle on that as well. Believe it or not, I am in the middle of trying to find this myself, there are six counties with LIS underspends in 2024.

William Aird (Laois, Fine Gael)

It is certainly not Laois. I can tell him that.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

I just see Deputy McGuinness's head nearly came up there as well. I cannot imagine any councillor in the country would stand over an underspend in LIS. There are almost 4,000 roads still on lists. No council should be underspending in LIS.

William Aird (Laois, Fine Gael)

What should be said, in fairness to me and everybody here because most people spent time on the council, is that councillors should be informed of which councils did not take up their full allocation.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

Laois is not one of them.

William Aird (Laois, Fine Gael)

I know that. I said that. To be fair, public representatives might not be aware of that, and that is not fair.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

We will be working on it. It is important. Councillors know how important it is. It is a big frustration for councillors and, as Deputy Aird said, it is small communities who really do not see a lot of other impact. On ORIS, it is flexible. We do a lot of work with Coillte. Recreation areas are not just local authority spaces; they are forests. They are some amazing Coillte projects across the country. I was in Jenkinstown and Woodstock, County Kilkenny, this day last week to see what we can do with existing forestry to reimagine it as recreation spaces. The growth in that area, and the number of users since 2020 has been extraordinary. We will be doing more work there. ORIS is important. Through it we work with local authorities. We fund county outdoor recreational plans, and we also fund rural recreational officers in the LCDCs. We had the outdoor recreational conference in Limerick last Thursday with approximately 200 people from all over the country involved in this area. It is one of the best conferences I have been at in terms of the buzz, their plans and ability to think outside the box in the area of expenditure. Spaces that the Deputy and I might not see as recreational can be reimagined as recreational. ORIS is one of our best programmes, but I want to make it as flexible as possible. Local authorities have existing land banks that they can use any time they are rebuilding housing. There is an opportunity now as we go to reopen county development plans. Local authorities will be asked to redesignate housing areas. In redesignating housing land, they also need to include recreational space in that. They also need to have recreational facilities in the plans available for people who are going to live in those areas. Through ORIS we are more than happy to work with local authorities based on their existing plan.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)

I support the Minister, Deputy Calleary, and Deputy Aird regarding the LIS. It is an important scheme and I commend the Minister on his proactivity in trying to get extra funding. It is important. Deputy Aird is right. It is even an issue in my constituency of Cork South-Central, which has a rural part. A considerable number of people are enquiring. Last week we did one because of the size of Cork.

I thank the Deputy for raising libraries and I thank the library section of the Department. We have a vast library programme. Under the physical capital investment we have ten libraries under development at the moment and an expansion of the mobile library service in my library provision. It is an important programme, and one we are anxious to continue supporting, particularly in opening libraries. I am glad Portlaoise is up and running and open. The libraries represent a flagship of what our section does in the Department because they allow access to people in the community. It is not just about the old-fashioned library. There is a myriad. I was in Deputy McGuinness's area in Waterford recently and the library in Waterford was phenomenal as an example of a hive of community activity from learning English, to leaving certificate study classes, women's groups, painting, books being used and childcare provision. It was a phenomenal morning in the library in Waterford, so I thank the Deputy for raising that.

John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ministers. On my behalf it is good to see so much spend going on in the Department for 2025. I thank the Minister, Minister of State and their officials for coming in this morning.

On rural regeneration development, it is good to see that is being maintained at €60 million for the current year. It has made huge advantages and advances in different communities. Lots of different communities that could only get a small fraction of spend before, now have real investment as part of that fund. I see many towns and villages have a real injection of funding because of that. CLÁR is a huge aspect and I welcome the Minister's comments on reviewing the CLÁR areas for the future, because 2006 was the last time we had that map devised. It is good to see there is an extra €2 million as part of that. The local improvement scheme has been discussed in terms of where we are at with it, and the opportunities to have further funding going forward. It is good to see from the Minister's remarks that as part of the next capital funding programme LEADER will play a pivotal role and be a core aspect of that.

I have one comment. We recently did funding for men's sheds. I know are a number of women's sheds in my area that were disappointed they were not included. The Minister might have a few euro left to allocate to women's sheds. On a serious note, they provide a valuable service to the communities there. I know one in my own area in Freemount has a huge number of women enrolled in the women's shed. They have been productive in their meetings in the past number of weeks. On rural transport, I know it does not particularly come under the Minister's area, but it is part of his Department in promoting rural activity. The Connecting Ireland rural mobility plan has played a huge role in the past months and years in advancing rural Ireland. I look forward to that continued roll-out.