Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We need to start looking at infrastructure and long-term developments, as well as some of the short-term measures the Minister has taken. For instance, Newtownwhite national school outside Killala in our constituency in County Mayo, a school the Minister is familiar with, has expanded significantly in recent years under the patronage of Educate Together, and it now needs to acquire land. However, the Department of Education and Skills does not support this land acquisition as it is intended for traffic safety and a playing field. That is the kind of project CLÁR could support in order to sustain a developing rural school.

We are also awaiting information from the Minister's Department on the Downpatrick group water scheme, which the Minister is aware of. This is again about putting facilities and infrastructure in place that will sustain communities to live in certain areas and protect the environment. Those kinds of infrastructure investments, which are long term but will sustain communities and help them grow, are what Deputy Ó Cuív had in mind when he first introduced CLÁR and we need to re-focus the programme on them.

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