David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister on this initiative and on the refurbishment initiative. It is far-seeing and visionary. Well done to her. How are the applications going at the moment in this regard? Is there significant interest? It appears that the window for making applications is quite tight at just three months, and those who are not shovel-ready with planning and so on will not get past first base. Does the Minister anticipate another round following on in a number of months when this is finished? We have moved from refurbishing existing centres, which is very good, to building new ones, which is excellent. The next step will be to have a fund in place to purchase a site so that a community can get a site. If there is no site, they cannot build anything. In many instances they do not have the ground on which to build a community centre. I agree with what colleagues have said, that community centres are the heart of communities and really and truly do great work. Build it, and they will come.

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