Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is right. In my role as Minister for Rural and Community Development, community is probably the most important aspect. We have a number of community schemes. The Deputy is quite correct. A lot of people are employed in some of these community schemes and they are very important. That is why we have targeted all the schemes that we have such as the outdoor recreation scheme, the town and village scheme and the road regeneration scheme. The flexibility that I have in my Department is very important. I hope even at this late stage that we have a deal in Brexit but the Deputy is quite correct that even if we have a deal we will have problems. All I can say to him and to businesses around the Border area and around the whole country is that they have to be prepared. They have to be ready. At Government level we have put the legislation in place. We have done everything we can as a Government. At this late stage, I hope there will be a deal and I hope there will be a bit of common sense that the deal that is there will be accepted. The Deputy is right. The whole of Ireland is going to suffer and I do not want that to happen. I am hoping and I will be monitoring. That is why my Department is out there on a regular basis. We are doing the rural shows and we are also going to be lending a helping hand. We are going to be bringing in communities, telling them the schemes that we have and assisting them to fill out applications.

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