Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is probably aware that in my own council area Fingal County Council got an allocation of €301,000 from the community activities fund. That needs to be allocated before the end of February but it can be spent until the end of August next year. That is a substantial amount. It is in the area of small grants but they have an impact as well.

The criteria for the new programme are being worked on at the moment. We would be slow to make it exclusive because there are always unusual situations arising, even with local authority centres. The criteria are being developed at the moment. As I mentioned, the community enhancement programme in Fingal is worth €150,000 this year as well. I take the Deputy's point on the scale of fund that is needed. The Minister is committed to growing the size of the fund as well.

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