Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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82. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the total funding available for the CLÁR programme in 2026, the funding available for each measure under the programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55960/25]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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As the Minister is aware, because he represents a rural county, like the two rural counties I have the privilege to represent, the CLÁR programme has been particularly important since it was first initiated by our former Oireachtas colleague, Éamon Ó Cuív. It has been particularly important for ensuring the provision of community facilities and for enhancing public facilities such as schools. I hope the Minister has a good allocation for the forthcoming year to continue the good work of recent years that was undertaken through CLÁR funding.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The CLÁR programme is an important funding stream for many of our most rural areas. In recent years, it has funded a vast array of community amenities, including community centres, sporting facilities, playgrounds, sensory gardens and walking trails. It has also provided funding for vehicles used to transport people with disabilities to access vital cancer services among others. Since 2020, over €53 million has been approved for almost 1,300 projects nationwide under the programme. I launched the 2025 programme in April inviting applications under three measures. Measure 1 of the programme supports the development of community facilities and amenities. Measure 2 provides support for the provision of vehicles to transport people with mobility issues or for cancer treatment, for community first responders and for meals on wheels. Measure 3 aims to support communities on our offshore islands in line with the Department’s policy for the development of our inhabited offshore islands, Our Living Islands. Last month I announced funding of €1.7 million under measure two for the provision of 32 vehicles to support first responders, meals on wheels and mobility transport providers.

We are concluding the assessment of applications received under measures one and three, and I look forward to announcing successful projects across these measures before the end of 2025. We are pleased to have secured an additional €1m as part of the budget for CLÁR 2026. This will bring the 2026 allocation to €12 million, which is a doubling of the CLÁR budget over the past five years. The Minister of State and I will review the measures to be included under CLÁR 2026, and the associated levels of funding. We will launch the programme for 2026 in quarter 1 of next year.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his response. I know of his commitment to this programme, both from serving in opposition as a spokesperson and government, where he has continued his good work. I also recognise the work of my former constituency colleague, Heather Humphreys, in enhancing the CLÁR programme. I am sure the Minister will continue to enhance that programme. We all know that the provision of facilities nowadays for communities or small schools is costly, be they playgrounds or other much-needed facilities. The CLÁR grant scheme is essential for enabling the smaller populated communities to put in place amenities and some sporting and recreational facilities. It is a vote of confidence in those communities. In the past, those communities were losing population. Thankfully, most of those communities are growing their population and we need to have facilities in place to ensure people living locally can have proper amenities and community facilities to avail of.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I agree with the Deputy. We have made changes to CLÁR since I took office. I increased the maximum payable grant for a successful measure one project from €50,000 to €65,000. For two measure 1 applications, local authorities can apply for an increased level of funding of €100,000. I have provided for an extra application by local authorities that have Gaeltacht areas in their counties, so those areas can be supported. As the Deputy stated, the emphasis of CLÁR is on supporting infrastructure to assist communities in being resilient and the development of communities. The recent announcements on transport included €41,000 for Cavan local development and for meals on wheels. In all, 62 CLÁR projects have been approved in Cavan since 2020 to the value of €2.72 million. There have been 71 in Monaghan to the value of €2.78 million. It includes sensory gardens, sports facilities, community halls and a teenage hangout area in Ballybay.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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With regard to Storm Éowyn, many of the services that were put in place, such as meals on wheels and the provision of vehicles, as well as a community facility and some of the hubs that were used during the storm, would not have been there were it not for CLÁR grant assistance. The Minister will often have heard me speak in this House and within the party about the importance of cross-Border funding, the former INTERREG programme and the current PEACEPLUS programme.

I want to record my sincere appreciation of the Minister's work, along with that of the chief executive of the Special EU Programmes Body, Gina McIntyre, in advancing an application by Cavan County Council, the county board of the Cavan GAA and the Royal School Cavan to develop a major regional sports campus in Cavan town. I am delighted that formal approval of €15 million has come through this morning for this very exciting project. As the Minister knows from discussions I have had with him, it is a project I have worked with from the outset. I have been very glad to support Cavan County Council, the county board of the GAA and the Royal School in their very ambitious plan for a major regional sports campus. Thankfully, today, we have €34 million of public money in place - €19 million from the sports capital programme and €15 million through the Special EU Programmes Body. Those types of investments are critical in rural areas. The Minister’s help in advancing that application, along with that of Gina McIntyre, is much appreciated.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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CLÁR has been an exemplary programme. It is focused, and we want to keep that focus. We have a programme for Government commitment to look at the expansion of CLÁR areas, and we are finalising that at the moment. Maynooth University has prepared a report for us, which we are looking at.

I join with the Deputy in welcoming this morning's announcement for Cavan, as will the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, who has responsibility for PEACEPLUS. It is a fantastic project. It is linked to the town and is an enormous game-changer for that town. I thank the Deputy for his work and advocacy on it. I know all three organisations, along with the Special EU Programmes Body, will ensure it is delivered and makes an impact. I look forward to visiting it in the near future, perhaps for a game.

CLÁR is focused on providing those services. In a previous iteration, CLÁR also used to provide funding towards group water schemes, where local contributions were hard to match. That is certainly something I would like to look at getting back to. It also invested in putting in power infrastructure for small businesses when, back in the day, three-phase electricity was a big issue. Where there are infrastructure deficits, we will try to provide support.