Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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70. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the funding available for community groups seeking to construct capital facilities, such as community centres, pavilions, and so on; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26263/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Burke. In his previous role as Minister of State, he did much work on rural isolation and rural loneliness role and I acknowledge that.

Regarding the Deputy's question, the development and enhancement of community facilities is a priority for me and full details of the capital supports available are on my Department’s website. The community centre investment fund has provided in excess of €109 million since 2022 for the enhancement and refurbishment of existing community centres and the construction of new centres. Under the 2024 iteration of the fund, more than €33 million has been approved to support refurbishment works on more than 770 projects nationwide.

The community recognition fund, first introduced in 2023, has supported a range of community infrastructure projects, and recognises the huge efforts made by communities in welcoming and supporting people coming to Ireland.

A total of €100 million was allocated under the two iterations of the fund. The town and village renewal scheme, which is currently open for applications, is designed to support the revitalisation of rural towns and villages. The scheme enables the provision of funding for projects designed to rejuvenate town centres and includes projects to renovate and refurbish multipurpose community spaces. Since its launch, more than €177 million has been allocated to almost 1,800 projects across Ireland.

The rural regeneration and development fund is a major capital investment programme which seeks to support large-scale ambitious projects to achieve sustainable economic and social development in rural areas. Since 2018, €588 million has been allocated to 243 projects. The development of community facilities can also be funded under the LEADER programme, which is currently up and running across the country until 2027. There is a huge range of supports available and I am committed to further growing this support in line with the commitments made in the programme for Government.

Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Minister knows, Ballincollig, which is in my constituency, won the Tidy Towns competition in 2024. It involved a huge contribution from the community over many years. A really strong community spirit has been created. The problem I now have in my constituency in places like Blarney and Glanmire which have had huge population increases is that we have not set aside facilities to be developed for the community. Glanmire, which has a population of more than 20,000, has no real community facility. I know we will work with the local authority on it but this is something that needs to be prioritised in growing areas. In Blarney, the proposal is for 2,500 more houses to be built. Planning was granted for the first tranche of 270 houses in the past two weeks. The planning for community facilities also needs to be put in place. In my home parish of Innishcarra, there are 50 acres of community facilities. The GAA, the camogie club and the rugby club all have their own grounds in the centre of the community, all in one piece. The Minister should visit to see how a community can work. I am concerned that in areas where there is huge growth in population we are not planning for it. The Department needs to look at this issue very carefully.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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I acknowledge that Department officials work really hard and are getting good value for the money that is allocated. When money is allocated to a community group, it will raise a whole lot more money itself to develop and grow the facilities. My big concerns centres around the areas where there is a huge increase in housing. The Minister talked about the allocation in Blarney, which is very welcome. The money has been well looked after and well spent there in developing the facilities. In the future, 2,500 more houses will built there. It is about making sure we have clearly marked out where we are going to put additional community facilities. Likewise in Glanmire, 30 acres was given to the FAI more than 12 years ago and it is still lying idle. We need to bring that into use and do major development for the town. The GAA club in Glammire does not have the capacity to take the huge number of young people who want to join the club. The club is finding it very challenging to cater for everyone because of the growth in the area. The issue of 30 acres lying idle needs to be resolved.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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In the overall context of any development such as the housing referred to by the Deputy, first it is a matter for the local authority to put the plans in place. It draws down development levies for all of that construction. It should put the plan in place to have that facility developed. My Department will then be more than happy to work with it to identify potential funding opportunities. Part of the funding for Glanmire was to do a feasibility study for a community centre hub in 2021. I would be very interested to see where that went, where the feasibility study is and if we can work with the Deputy to drive that on. I am very happy to do that. However, in the first instance, the local authority is the prime development and planning agency. When it considers that level of planning the Deputy referred to, it should identify the kind of facilities that are needed. When housing is built, facilities also need to be built. We should have learned over the years, particularly in urban areas, to put the community halls and the sports and recreation facilities in. My Department is more than happy to work with any local authority that has that vision.

Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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Another place the Minister should visit the next time he is in Cork is the Glen Resource Centre. I was involved a long time ago in getting funding from Europe to start the centre. There are now more than 80 organisations using it. This is because of the contribution of the local community in developing and growing it. It is an important facility in an area where there was a lot of local authority housing and we would not have been able to raise funding. We got the funding from Europe under a capital programme to develop the centre. We need to look at inner-city areas as well because they do not necessarily have the funding. It is about making sure that they are not left behind. The Minister should visit the Glen Resource Centre to see how a community working with the local authority and the Government can develop a very good facility.