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

The closing date for the town and village renewal scheme was only last Friday. The Deputy is not letting any grass grow under his feet; he is in there already. My Department has received an application from the Order of Malta in Mayo for, I understand, around €475,000 to restore and renovate the order's headquarters in Castlebar. Obviously, those applications will have to be assessed. I expect it will be around March 2024 before decisions are taken because there are many applications to assess, as the Deputy will appreciate. I am generally very supportive of the Order of Malta because it does wonderful work on the ground. In recent years, my Department provided funding of €567,000 to the order nationwide to enable it to purchase vehicles. In Mayo, specifically, it received two grants of €50,000, in 2018 and 2020, respectively, to support it in purchasing two ambulances.

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