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

The rural regeneration fund seeks to support ambitious projects which have potential to reform rural communities. The Government has committed over €1 billion to the fund in ten years and €350 million in the period 2019 to 2022. In the last round of funding whe whole of County Cork was overlooked. That was quite astonishing to say the least as there were 48 projects seeking funding. Rural communities such as those in Ballyvourney, Kanturk, Macroom, Bandon, Ballinspittle, Clonakilty, Skibbereen, Bantry and Schull were all overlooked. One of the community and voluntary groups, in particular, had spent €500,000 of local money in making its application as strong and suitable as possible to receive funding. The third round of funding will soon be released. Will the Taoiseach assure the people in question that genuine community and voluntary groups with equal or better projects will be treated equally and not overlooked?

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