Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister mentioned the stability fund and the fact the Irish Red Cross received €200,000 from it, but, unfortunately, it is not enough to keep the branches afloat. The Minister hit the nail on the head in terms of the challenges faced by the branches. The best I can do is offer him the example of the Clonakilty branch of the Irish Red Cross. It is an incredible branch and covers all of west Cork, a huge area. As the Minister mentioned, it deals with events, race meetings, summer shows, concerts and festivals. None of these has happened this year, so its income stream has been cut off completely. That has left it in a very precarious position. The Clonakilty branch had established a state-of-the-art facility in Clonakilty, but it has had to leave the premises. It had two ambulances and now the ambulances have nowhere to go. There is nowhere to conduct its training or to store the ambulances. It is in a very severe predicament. I am requesting a further injection of funding from the Minister's Department. As regards the situation in Clonakilty, where the branch does not have a premises anymore, could the Minister intervene and see if it could somehow secure a premises or land on which to build a premises?

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