Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last week the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Michael Ring, announced more than €60 million for rural communities in the rural regeneration and development fund. When the Taoiseach launched the fund last year he said that it would provide investment and support for rural renewal for suitable projects in towns and villages with a population of less than 10,000. Some of the recipients of last week's funding were Coillte, the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, and LEADER groups. These groups have their own funds and are now getting millions from this fund, which is a change from when the guidelines were first published. My constituency, Cork South-West got zero funds in last week's announcement - not one brown cent - in spite of Cork County Council putting forward 48 projects from many of those areas. I spoke with some of the organisations over the weekend throughout west Cork which had applied and they are staggered at the zero return for the whole of west Cork. One of the projects that ticked all of the boxes but got zero funding was the Schull Community Harbour Development Company. It has proposed a project for a marina in Schull and it was put forward by the council. It is a category one, shovel-ready project that would have guaranteed year round jobs in a rural community that is starved for jobs. Why did west Cork, which is one of the most rural constituencies in Ireland, get zero funding in last week's announcement?

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