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

If sheds are looking for premises, I always encourage them to work with their local authorities. Under the town and village renewal scheme, especially under the building acquisition measure, local authorities have been able to buy buildings in towns and villages, particularly former bank buildings. These buildings usually have a fine big space out the back and there is no reason they cannot be used for multiple purposes. As I said, each shed has its own individual needs. Many of them are renting premises. I have a case in my constituency where a men's shed is desperately looking for premises. I am encouraging it to engage with the local authority because there are a number of different funding streams available.

On the community support fund, I have some opening and closing dates if people want to apply to the fund. The Cork County Council community support fund opened on 3 February and it will close on 13 March. I advise any of these organisations to apply for funding from that source. They can contact Cork County Council at communitydevelopmentunit@corkcoco.ie. I want to see these applications coming in, and hopefully they will be completed by the end of March. Each county has an allocation and it is up to them to get the money out. The message I want to send out to the women's sheds, or whatever name they might have, is that if women are thinking of forming such a group, they should contact the local authority because there is a few bob available to support them. I would like to see a similar organisation for women across the country in due course.

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