Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. The announcement on the successful measure 1 and 3 projects is absolutely eagerly awaited. The Minister referred to the 2,100 projects that have been supported all over the country since the reintroduction of the programme back in 2016. Every single one of those projects is important in those communities. I raised the issue with the Minister during the summer. In my own locality, Keel GAA club has applied for funding to make safe the parking, drop-off and collection areas. It is one of the most dangerous GAA car parks in the country, if not the most dangerous. It is on the busy main Killarney to Dingle road. That is just one project that has applied for measure 1 funding. It would make an enormous difference to our community. It is the same for every single application. I ask the Minister to do whatever she can in terms of the maximum amount of funding that can be allocated to these projects. I can guarantee that with very few exceptions, there are not many applications that would not represent excellent value for money all over the country.

In relation to any future review of eligibility for CLÁR, we are seeing counties increase in population throughout the country, but it is the relative population increase that needs to be looked at. As we know, the east coast population is increasing at a far quicker rate than that of the west coast. We can see that in seat allocations when it comes to this House alone. I ask that that factor is considered as well, to avoid that having a disproportionate impact along the western seaboard where the population is not growing as quickly.

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