Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising those issues. The country has enjoyed full employment for the past two years, having come out of Covid. West Cork has not been immune from this. Agricultural incomes have gone up over recent years, despite what the Deputy said. They went up significantly last year.

I was in Ringaskiddy at the weekend, on Saturday. The Mayor of the County of Cork was present also. He would have witnessed the transformation in the community centre in the town, reflecting the strong spirit of the community and the strong LEADER grant of about €300,000 that was responsible for the transformation of the centre. It is carbon neutral and highly energy efficient, and it has a wonderful room. This is really an illustration of the transformation that has happened not only across west Cork but across the rest of rural Ireland regarding the allocation of substantial funding and working opportunities created within community centres. The Ringaskiddy centre is just one example of where a significant sum was made available. A sum of €379 million has been allocated since 2020 by the Department of Rural and Community Development to projects under the rural regeneration and development fund. The Deputy did not mention that once in his commentary. It was almost as if he did not see any of it.

The outdoor recreation and infrastructure scheme should also be acknowledged, along with the public-realm work that is ongoing in many areas across west Cork, CLÁR, the town and village renewal scheme and the local improvement scheme, but the Deputy simply ignored them all. It is as if they never happened, even though the Deputy was agitating a lot for the funding and ringing up Departments, county councils and everybody to get a slice of the action. That is no harm, and I do not have any issue with the Deputy doing that, but he will endeavour, as usual, to claim credit for it over Government Deputy Christopher O’Sullivan or somebody else like that.

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