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

It is important that we look at new schemes that help communities all the time. I value the input that I get in this Chamber and from each Member individually. At different points, Members say to me that I should look at this or that and I continually review the schemes. In fairness, there was a great number of successful applications in County Kerry, averaging around €18,000, €19,000 or up to €25,000, which was the maximum. Many of them did very well. I will share a story with Members. I remember when I was first elected to the Dáil and a small grant for about €10,000 came out. I had been working on it for a while and phoned this community group to advise it had received €10,000. That is not a lot of money in the overall scheme of things. The boy said to me, "You know, I would be a long time standing at the traffic lights in Monaghan with a bucket by the time I would get €10,000". That is the difference it makes. We need to support communities.

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