Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. This year my Department had a budget of €378 million, which is utilised to provide supports to both urban and rural communities. The national development plan also places a particular focus on solutions to strengthen housing, climate ambitions, transport, healthcare and jobs growth for communities in every region. My Department supports the development of community infrastructure across the country through programmes such as the rural regeneration and development fund, RRDF, the LEADER programme, the town and village renewal scheme and the community enhancement programme. This year I have further supplemented this investment by establishing a community centre investment fund that will support groups in every county to carry out refurbishments and improvements of their local community facility. These facilities represent vital infrastructure to support our communities, including in expanding areas such as those referred to by the Deputy.

My Department also operates a range of other community supports such as the community services programme, which assists community-based organisations through a social enterprise model. It typically supports organisations to meet local service gaps and provide access to services and facilities that would otherwise generally be unavailable. In addition, the social inclusion and communities activation programme, SICAP, provides funding to tackle poverty and social exclusion at a local level. The value of the programme has again been seen in recent times in responding to the needs of the people from Ukraine to help them settle and engage with local communities. I am confident the current suite of supports provided by my Department will continue to support and enable our growing communities to thrive throughout the country.

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