Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It has been very welcome. My parish community centre benefited from €25,000 under category 1. This was one of 27 projects funded in County Kerry. This was most welcome. In a small rural parish, collecting €25,000 is virtually impossible in the current times so that funding from the Government is crucial. I remember in the 1980s going around in the back of my father's Fiat 127. Along with the other members of the community council, he was collecting £5 a month from householders to build the centre. It now needs reinvestment. This funding is a huge boost to a small rural community. It is the same throughout the country. I congratulate the Minister and thank her for putting the fund in place for next year also. I encourage the further categories to be announced as soon as possible. The good people of Listowel have been on to me about Listowel Community Centre. They do fantastic work there. The term, "community centre", explains what is going on there. These places are at the centre of their communities. The work that goes on in them is enormously important. This funding is crucially important as well.

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