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

I encourage the Deputy to speak to the local authority. As I said, there were many cases where prominent buildings in local towns and villages were identified. In the Deputy's own country, for example, the FCA hall in Mitchelstown was acquired and is being turned into a space for community use. Some people use it as maybe a home for the men's shed or women's shed. This is very much a bottom-up approach. It is about engaging with the community. The community identifies a building they can perhaps use and works with the local authority to get the application in to my Department. We are happy to support them. I travel around the country and it does one's heart good to see some of the buildings that have been transformed for 21st century use. Many of them were used as remote working hubs initially but there are other uses, perhaps for a youth cafe such as the one I visited in Ballaghaderreen. There are loads of opportunities and the good news is that there is a few bob there to help people do it.

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