Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent)
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4. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if he will consider granting funding to homecoming festivals in various locations in the country in the interest of promoting tourism and increasing investment in rural areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [67914/25]

Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent)
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Will the Minister consider granting funding to homecoming festivals in various locations in the country to promote tourism and increase investment, particularly in rural areas? What is his opinion on this? What supports can be provided?

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for his question. My Department implements a wide range of schemes and supports that are available to community organisations and groups across the country. While my Department does not have a scheme specifically for community or homecoming festivals, there may be an avenue of support under the LEADER programme or potentially the local enhancement programme.

In respect of the LEADER programme, in line with the programme for Government, LEADER has a strong focus on rural tourism and funding has been made available under the programme for festivals and local tourism initiatives. For example, I am sure the Deputy will be well aware of the Old Fort Quarter festival, which has been run very successfully in Portlaoise in recent years. That has received funding from LEADER.

In order for a project to be eligible for LEADER funding, the proposed activity must be compatible with the actions outlined in the approved LEADER local development strategy and comply with the EU regulations and operating rules. The programme is administered by the local action groups, LAGs, across the country. Prospective applicants organising festivals should contact their relevant LAG.

Moving to the local enhancement programme, which is run by the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, and me, this programme provides small capital grants to community and voluntary groups to improve facilities or purchase equipment. This may support groups that help run local festivals. We are finalising local enhancement programme for 2026 and will announce details of the new programme imminently.

Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent)
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What the Minister said in the last couple of sentences, in relation to finalising plans for 2026, is timely. This is a great way of improving tourism and visitor numbers. As we all know, tourism figures are down this year and there are various reasons for that. Some of it is due to high prices being charged by some hotels and over-pricing, and the industry has to take that on board. The first homecoming festival was organised in Laois this year and it was a huge success. It took place on 4, 5 and 6 September. A lot of voluntary work and commitment go into these festivals and it is an area we need to target in terms of economic and tourism benefits. It also has community and family benefits, because people who had not seen each other for 50 years, in some cases, met again for the first time. The route to securing funding needs to be simplified. I take on board the point about the LEADER programme but it tends to be set. There are a lot of calls on it. A separate stream of funding needs to be made available for this.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I absolutely appreciate the role of any festival or gathering in any rural community. That is why we support the rural shows to the extent of €1 million right across the country, with over 130 of them. Fáilte Ireland, which is the predominant domestic tourism development agency, has a range of schemes in place for supporting local festivals and local community events, as do the local authorities. As I said, the LEADER programme supports festivals. There is one in Portlaoise and others in Ballinakill, Cullahill and Spink, across the Deputy's county. The LEADER programme has a very good track record of supporting festivals across County Laois. I know there are a number of local authorities around the country that provide current funding for festivals in local areas as well.

We are more than happy to assist with capital funding through the LEADER programme, but given the existing level of support through Fáilte Ireland and other organisations, I have no plans to look at this proposal further at this point.

Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. I acknowledge the support given to the Old Fort Quarter festival and other projects in County Laois through the LEADER fund and I accept that. The key thing is that sometimes the information on what is available and where it can be accessed is unclear. I know some bureaucracy is necessary and it is important that money be accounted for properly and that things be done the right way. However, we need to try to streamline this. There can be a multitude of places to go to for funding but sometimes there is a fog in that regard. It needs to be kept very simple and straightforward. Maybe there could be something from the Department to state what is available. The Minister mentioned a number of avenues. Information is key for local communities to find out where to go for this.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Absolutely. We did try to provide that information, but that feedback is coming back to me quite often, so we will consider a one-stop shop for that information. I acknowledge that it is predominantly volunteers who organise these festivals. These are people who are very busy elsewhere in their lives and are probably involved in multiple other organisations in their communities at the same time. We will try to ensure we have a one-stop shop to provide the information.

I wish to bring the attention of every Deputy here this morning to the fact we are finalising the current consultation on Our Rural Future, which is our scaffolding document for rural policy. The final date for submissions is 12 December, which is tomorrow week, and I encourage all Deputies to look at the current draft and to input into that review. If there are suggestions or proposals similar to those the Deputy has, every Deputy should try to make those and we will incorporate the views of Oireachtas Members into the document. It is the scaffolding document on which we will build projects and funding programmes over the next five years.