Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for the very positive response. I want to highlight communities like my own community of Mullaghbuoy. Mullaghbuoy Community Centre was built by the community, including my parents and loads of other parents and my neighbours. They went around collecting £1 a week to make sure we had a community facility. It caters for everything from the cake sales to the céilís to making sure we have events for people in our communities. These centres have supported communities all around County Louth from St. Nicholas' GFC and St. Mel's Hall in Drogheda right up to Omeath District Development, which the Minister visited with us a couple of years ago. As he well knows, these had no ability to get funding for community centres. We have now seen huge positive investment, and community centres that were run down and had no money for refurbishment have come to life. We are seeing that investment in people in our communities. I really look forward to having the next iteration to support more community investment, and more communities in County Louth getting more access to the grants.

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