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

I thank Deputies Dillon and Durkan. Both of them are raising the issue of community involvement and I absolutely agree with them because I believe what we need and continue to need is that local ground-up approach. It is about talking to people on the ground about what they need in their community. These applications for town and village are processed through the local authorities and the local authorities have their community section. I know they engage through different fora with communities, whether it is the public participation network or the local community and development committees. I always say to them to engage, engage, engage and find out what people want on the ground because they know what they need in their areas.

I will continue to impress that point on local authorities. I was in a town in west Cork and people said to me that they felt they were not being included. I said that was not the way it should be, that they should be consulted and part of the development of their town and their village because they are the people who are living there and they are the people who know what is needed most.

There is a plethora of different funding streams from my Department, as the Deputies know, and it is about putting those applications in. Again, it is not what the local authority wants it is what the communities want first and foremost. However, it has to be co-ordinated.

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