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

I thank the Deputy. I think it is fair to say there is a planning function here as well. If a local authority is granting permission for large swathes of housing, it needs to plan for a community centre in that area as well. That is not happening everywhere. The question of whether we will actually support the local authority to do that comes up occasionally in this House, even if the local authority does not have a plan. Local authorities need to have a plan. We have some funds that can support such plans to build an actual building. We do not have a fund to support a building from scratch as well. To give a little bit more detail on the community centres fund, €15 million will be available to community groups. Funding will be available under three strands with grants of between €10,000 and €300,000. Further details on the application process and opening dates will be available quite shortly as well. There is little point in me meeting unless the local authority has a plan actually to build the centre.

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