Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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86. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht for an update on the community centres investment fund; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38070/25]

Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I ask the Minister for an update on the community centres investment fund, and to make a statement on the matter. When will the next round be announced? It is a hugely important and successful scheme so I would like to hear an update.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for her question. Community centres are the cornerstone of community life in towns and villages around the country. The Government recognises the very important role these centres play in bringing people together and facilitating community services and events.

Since its establishment in 2022, the community centres investment fund, CCIF, has provided some €110 million for the enhancement and refurbishment of existing community centres and the construction of new centres in locations that were not adequately served. Over €45 million was approved for some 861 community centres nationwide under CCIF 2022. To date, over €43 million of this has been paid to these communities, with 760 of those projects now complete. Last year, funding of €30 million was approved for the construction of 12 new community centres covering nine counties. These projects are now beginning to move forward.

The most recent fund focused again on the refurbishment of existing community facilities. In March of this year, I was delighted to announce over €26 million for 369 community centres under category 2, which provides funding of up to €100,000. This was in addition to 405 projects approved in November with a value of €7.8 million under category 1, which provides funding of up to €25,000. This brings the total amount approved under the 2024 iteration of the fund to over €33 million for in excess of 770 projects nationwide.

I am totally committed, as is the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, to delivering further iterations of the fund in the coming years in line with the commitment in the programme for Government. Since the programme for Government was agreed, we have seen first hand the value of these community centres in responding to Storm Éowyn, and the value of the people who volunteer to provide these community centres. We will be looking at future rounds of the CCIF to ensure community centres are at the forefront of any future climate responses.

Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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I want to take this opportunity, when we are discussing community centres, to make a request. This was a question I had in and it was moved to another Department but I am going to try and wedge it in here anyway. It concerns community childcare. When we are talking about community centres, we need to be looking at harnessing those buildings. We had a discussion on Storm Éowyn and the way in which it exposed some of the fragile infrastructure. Now that there is a lens on it and people are looking at that vital infrastructure, the Minister might consider and have community childcare and crèches as part of community centre redevelopment where it is happening. They are located, as Deputy McGreehan has pointed out, at the centre of our communities. They are the beating heart of our communities and are, very often, a very handy place for parents to get to and from. I ask that the Minister would keep community childcare to the forefront when he is discussing and considering community centres and investment.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I agree with the Deputy. Where we can colocate community facilities, it is much better for everybody. It is a more cohesive community. I know the Minister, Deputy Foley, who has responsibility under the building blocks scheme, has also expressed an interest in working with the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer and myself on this.

To come back to Deputy McGreehan, as I said, over €80 million has been approved for the refurbishment and enhancement of existing community centres since 2022. Last year, we funded over €30 million for 12 new community centres. My priority, at the moment, is to get those 12 projects up and running to get that money drawn down. We have over 770 projects completed and they are already delivering very real benefits, not just during storms. I am sure there are many community centres hosting summer camps as we speak, giving great relief to parents and guardians at this time of year.

That is being done by volunteers in many cases. It shows the value of it all-year-round. In relation to Mullaghbuoy, as the Deputy mentioned, €24,000 was approved in 2022 to improve the kitchen facilities and €19,000 in 2024 for energy security upgrades. Much of the focus has been on upgrading community centres that were built at a certain time when energy costs were not a priority. They now are. We are now assisting community centres to reduce their energy costs.

Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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In relation to bringing childcare and that community and children focus, we have a fantastic facility in Cooley Kickhams which was also a recipient of the grant. We have a preschool there. My children went to it. It works well. It is the heart of the community and it is where our children should be and where they fit best. I absolutely support that.