Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The CLÁR scheme, without doubt, has been a successful scheme. It is giving real meaningful assistance to so many community groups.

There are difficulties with the application process. As it is 15 applications per county, irrespective of how many CLÁR communities one's country covers, it means that the larger counties feel disadvantaged in it.

If one takes a snapshot of last year's allocations, in County Cork, 11 schemes were approved with €456,000, even though it does not cover all of the Cork county. A similar CLÁR area would be the counties of Leitrim, Roscommon and Sligo combined. Leitrim had seven applications totalling €301,000; Roscommon, eight; and Sligo, seven. Between them, €800,000 was distributed across 22 schemes. This was double what was available in County Cork in much the same area. Right next door to them in County Mayo is another large CLÁR area, with only four applications approved and €177,000 distributed across them. That is in contrasts with County Louth where only the Cooley Peninsula would be part of the CLÁR area and where six schemes were approved, getting €254,000. Clearly, there is an imbalance. That needs to be addressed.

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