Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

Planning issues are a matter for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I agree that there should be a community element to all planning decisions. As regards Blarney, we allocated €204,000 in 2021 for the development of the Inch Park amenity. In 2023, €324,000 was allocated. This includes upgrades for the community centre. There was also €125,000 allocated to Glanmire in 2021 for enhancing John O'Callaghan Park. I commend the Ballincollig Tidy Towns committee. I was there in March. The Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, presented the national award to them last weekend. It is a wonderful example of volunteerism, ambition and pride, with the community all coming together. We launched the national Tidy Towns 2025 competition in Ballincollig in March. It was wonderful to meet the group and to see the work at first hand, and most important, to see their passion and interest in developing the community. I am looking for extra resources to support the new part of our community centre investment to allow us to build new centres in the areas the Deputy mentioned.

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