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

I have very little time, approximately four minutes, while there is a wide range of issues I could talk about in respect of community development. I very much welcome the announcement of the massive allocation of funding for community development in the recent budget. I will, however, focus on funding for communities in particular. What I mean by this is that this significant allocation of funding must now filter down into the local communities and to the community and voluntary organisations. That is absolutely vital.

I will provide an example. The stability fund is very welcome. These community groups have been starved of funding because they relied on events taking place in their halls or on fundraisers, which cannot now happen. As a result, the stability fund has become an important way to protect their incomes. Many community groups, however, have been disappointed and have not yet availed of funding. I urge the Minister of State to announce another tranche of funding under the stability fund so that we will not have as many disappointed groups. I am thinking of great community groups such as those which run Lehanmore Community Centre on the Beara Peninsula and its close neighbour, the Allihies Community Centre, which have been unsuccessful so far in applying to the stability fund. I would love to see another allocation of funding under this fund.

I will go from one end, the stability fund which provides smaller amounts of funding, to the other, the rural generation fund which provides larger amounts. This is a vital source of funding for community groups and large-scale projects in regional areas. I am not asking the Minister of State to assess any projects but there are two about which I want to talk to him and on which I seek clarification. There is a brilliant project in west Cork in my constituency, the development of Schull Harbour. Cork County Council has submitted applications for funding for this project two years in a row but it was turned down both times. The sad and concerning thing is that, because of the multiple unsuccessful applications, Cork County Council may not submit another application. One of the reasons it is giving is that the planning permission in place for this project runs out in October 2022. That is two years from now. If funding was granted, although I am not assuming it would be, the work could begin. Cork County Council, however, is concerned that the planning permission might run out midway through the works.

Will the Minister of State provide clarification in that regard? I am not asking him to approve an application; there is not even one on his desk. Instead, I am asking him to clarify whether the project would be considered a qualifying application. Planning permission is in place for this incredible development which would absolutely change Schull and the surrounding region. As the Minister of State may well know, we have an unbelievable coastline which features beaches, headlands and islands. The one criticism we get is that we do not have the right infrastructure in place. This is a shovel-ready project which has planning permission and foreshore licences in place. It just needs to get the nod. Again, I am not asking the Minister of State to approve funding. There is not even an application on his desk. I am just asking him to clarify to Cork County Council that it would be a qualifying applicant.

While I am on the topic of the rural regeneration scheme, we need to see successful projects in the region. It is not the Minister of State's fault - he is only new in this position and I have been in mine only since February - but applications made to the rural regeneration scheme in respect of Cork South-West have been unsuccessful year after year. So far, there has been only one successful application in the constituency. That is not a very good return. We need to look at that again. There are some very valuable and important projects out there. For example, there is an incredible ongoing project in Bandon to establish a playground. Bandon is a great town. I am not sure if the Minister of State is familiar with it. It has a lot going for it. It has a big population but it needs amenities. A playground for Bandon would be a game-changer. That is an application which will be coming across the Minister of State's desk. I just wanted to make those points. We need to see that community funding filter down to the communities.

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