Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. If I sounded cynical in my first contribution, I am not. Community action is where it is at. National politics can feel very distant from people and individual action feels like you are getting lost. In their community, people can make a difference and they can feel that difference. It seems to me, looking at the challenges we face with climate, biodiversity, housing and civic engagement, which is one of the OECD better living indices we score least well on, that community mobilisation is the answer to all of these things. However, sometimes people who are engaging through the PPNs lose heart because it takes so much time for that good idea to get to market. I also have a nagging concern they are too dependent on their local authorities and consequently they do not have that kind of external view of their local authority. They do not feel they can have an opinion on it and at times that limits the usefulness of the structure.

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