David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. Does he agree that there does not seem to be a clear policy with respect to community councils at, dare I say it, parish level? We are talking about LCDCs, which are at the level of the county or municipal district. Does he agree that we need to start drilling down to more localised bodies and looking at supporting those?

Does he have any idea of whether there are areas in the country where there is no community involvement, movement or organisation at all? Does he agree that these communities are suffering because of it, or are at least not benefiting from the advantages of having a community council in place? When such councils are active and working properly, they are of great benefit at a very local level. In the Minister of State's response, he spoke about high-level groups but I am talking about really drilling down to the parish level and supporting the establishment and work of these groups in light of the benefits that can accrue. If they are registered as companies, they can draw down funding themselves and put things like playgrounds, local community halls and so on in place. Do we need to be more focused?

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