Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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Those water-based Platforms for Growth initiatives that were announced will be going to planning now. Mount Congreve Gardens will open in March and I hope to be down there for that. I was at Knowth and Brú na Bóinne, which opened in 2022, the Blasket Islands centre opened in 2022, the Céide Fields opened in 2022, and the National Famine Museum was another that I opened last year. That amazing treetop walk at Avondale House and Forest Park opened in July 2022 and the Patrick Kavanagh Centre experience is another one that I opened in 2022, and the Chair, Deputy Niamh Smyth, was at that. Johnstown Castle, Kilkenny Riverside Gardens and the Shackleton Gardens were in 2021, but we can see there is quite a list for 2022, and I was quite busy opening various places around the country. That is good for tourism.

There is one in the Deputy’s constituency, the Mary Robinson Centre and presidential library in Ballina. In 2016, my Department awarded a grant of €2 million towards the cost of construction and fit-out of the Mary Robinson Centre. Mayo County Council is the project promoter and procured development funding of over €5 million for that project. Mayo County Council has advised my Department that the project is on track for opening to the public in the summer of this year.