Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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14. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht when the facilitator’s work plan with women’s sheds representatives will be completed; the way in which his Department will support its implementation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [68388/25]

Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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We have seen the excellent work being done by men's sheds throughout the country and now at women's sheds. I commend the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, and Department of Health on establishing a workforce to establish a national governing body for women's sheds. When will the facilitator's work plan with women's sheds will be completed? How does the Department plan on working with that governing body, particularly on funding for individual women's sheds?

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for this very important question. He is right that the work of men's sheds has been tremendous. Every community has benefited and equally women's sheds are emerging. The emergence of women’s sheds has been a very positive development for communities across Ireland. They provide a safe, comfortable and inclusive environment where women of all ages can share skills, work on meaningful projects and connect with their communities.

The Minister, Deputy Calleary, and I are committed to providing any support we can for the development of a national governing body for women’s sheds to ensure that individual women’s sheds can benefit from having a strong national representative body to advocate on their behalf. I am pleased that our colleague in the Department of Health, the Minister of State, Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor, shares our view.

A number of meetings have taken place between representatives of women's sheds and officials from our Department and from the Department of Health. Both Departments have jointly funded the provision of a facilitator to assist the representatives of the women’s sheds in their discussions on the formation of a national body. The facilitator is also providing advice to the representatives from the women’s sheds in the context of appropriate governance structures. Several meetings have taken place, both online and in person, and further meetings will be scheduled in the coming weeks.

The women’s sheds representatives and the facilitator are working together to outline a work plan to determine what the next steps should be. Officials in our Department along with their counterparts in the Department of Health hold regular update meetings with the facilitator to discuss progress, the most recent of which took place last week.

Discussions on the work plan are ongoing and it is expected that these discussions will continue into the new year, given the Christmas break and the sensitivities of the matter being discussed. Once the work plan has been completed our Department will review its recommendations and we will continue to engage with the women's sheds representatives to determine the most appropriate support for its implementation.

Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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As the Minister of State said, the work of men's sheds nationally has been rightly recognised. It is now time to recognise the work of women's sheds. It is a different space. While traditionally there would have been the ICA, women's sheds offer a different type of social space and give women different options for engaging in their community. This came about initially because representatives of Naas Women's Shed were in touch with me about funding in September. They said the same grant opportunities were not available to them as there were for the men's sheds. I hope the completion of this work plan and the establishment of a national governing body will afford more funding opportunities and more grant opportunities for women's sheds, such as the women's sheds in Naas and Celbridge. It would be wonderful to see men's sheds, not only in Kildare but throughout the country, looking to establish women's sheds as part of their men's sheds and share that space with women.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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We all share the aspiration to fund and support because it is a programme for Government commitment to continue to form both men's sheds and women's sheds. The women's sheds do not have the current umbrella body like men's sheds do and there needs to be a mechanism to channel the funding that is needed. Our Department has a number of schemes through which women's sheds can avail of support, such as LEP, SICAP and LEADER. We are committed to working with women's sheds post the facilitation to ensure that we provide support and funding. As the Deputy said, this is an important new departure, doing different work from other women's organisations, the benefit of which can be seen in our communities. The Deputy mentioned Naas as an example and it is tremendous to see what is happening there. I thank him for raising the matter again. We stand ready. We will engage further post the publication of the recommendations by the facilitator and I hope that we will come to an agreement on the way forward in the new year.

Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate that the lack of an umbrella body has made it more difficult. I acknowledge the work that the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht and the Minister of State, Deputy Murnane O'Connor, are putting in, working with representatives from women's sheds throughout the country and ensuring good governance structures are put in place to ensure that there is longevity in what we do and that it is not just for one year or for two years. We need these groups to last and we need funding streams that can be guaranteed in the future. I acknowledge the work that is being done and if there is anything I can do at any stage, I would be more than happy to put my shoulder to the wheel.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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I know the Minister of State is aware of the Déise Women's Shed in Dungarvan. I believe he has met some of its representatives, probably several times at this point. It was one of the first women's sheds in the State alongside the sheds in Naas and Midleton in east Cork. We all know and recognise the social, health and personal development benefits that come from these wonderful social spaces. While I do not want to pre-empt the results of the work plan and the facilitator's report, facilities and space will be key recommendations in it.

I know the Minister of State is aware of the situation in Dungarvan, which despite its size has no community centre and no family resource centre. There is a huge limitation on space available to all sorts of community organisations. It is really impacting the ability of the women's shed in particular to recruit and retain members to conduct all the activities that they would like to conduct. It is limiting them. Tá sé ag cur srian ar a gcuid oibre. I ask the Minister, Deputy Calleary, and the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, to do all that they can to facilitate and speed up the process of developing a community centre for Dungarvan.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank both Deputies for raising the matter. There has been significant engagement. Progress has been made and the most important point is that if we did not have engagement both Deputies would be coming in with a different set of questions in terms of governance and in terms of structures and the appropriateness of that. We have seen record investment in community by Government over the past decade. There are deficits in some cases and we will work to fill those deficits. Both the Minister, Deputy Calleary, and I are very committed to the enhancement and support of local community organisations because our country is a better place by the strength of the voluntary and community endeavour we have. The Deputy will see in the coming weeks and months further investment by us as a Government in terms of the local enhancement projects and other community initiatives. We are, as a Department, very aware of the benefits of women's sheds to communities and aware of the importance of them. We will work together, le chéile, to ensure we have an appropriate and proper governance, administrative structure and funding to women's sheds in the future.