Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with my colleague. I served as chairperson of Blackpool Community Centre, which takes in Ballyvolane, which forms part of the parish of Blackpool. More than 20 years ago, when there were more than 1,150 houses in Ballyvolane, there was an application for planning permission for a community centre which, unfortunately, never got through. We started off with more than 1,150 houses without a community facility and we are now building a huge number of additional houses, which I think will start off with one planning application having already gone through for more than 750 new houses. A second one has gone through for more than 250 houses. That is more than 1,000 new houses, and yet no specific project has been put in place for the development of a community facility in an area that will have more than 2,500 houses. It is very important there would be engagement with the local authority but also that a message is sent to the local authority about the priority of having appropriate community facilities in place. It is important in relation to the Glen facility, for instance, which my colleague raised. In fact, most of the money for that project came from the European level, not from Government level. Let us not, therefore, wait around for Europe to come forward with money for this one.

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