Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for her comments. She is right. Under CLÁR I can target some of the schemes to where the need is. I found when I came into office that one of the needs was safety outside schools. Anyone who has children knows that when parents and others bring children to school, they want them to be in a safe environment. I considered that scheme and reintroduced it. It has been very successful.

I am doing a review of the CLÁR programme. I do not want it to focus on depopulation. I want it to be where there is a need and to expand it. My officials recently met experts from the National University of Ireland, NUI, Maynooth to see how we can target it. The Deputy will understand that I have to be careful because there is small funding. I wish I could get more funding because it is one of the better schemes. I would like to be able to fund more schools. Under CLÁR I can see where there is a need and no other Department or local authority is dealing with it. I understand the Deputy’s question because there are areas in my constituency that are not in the CLÁR programme that would like to be funded.

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