Anthony Lawlor (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A report was produced by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence on Irish Aid and its effectiveness. I call for a debate on this report in the near future. I know there was a debate in the Dáil but it was truncated. There are members of the committee here who would like to see that.

I noticed that funds have been made available for rural and urban regeneration. The town hall in Naas is an historic building that was built in the mid-19th century. It was the former jail and is now being put to community use. There are exciting proposals for its development as a library and further community facilities, particularly for those of us from rural areas who enjoy going to country markets every now and then. I am not talking about farmers' markets. I am talking about country markets selling the real produce developed locally. Perhaps the Minister for Rural and Community Development might come to the House to give us some ideas of where that funding is going to go and how we can get our local authorities to apply for additional funding through that scheme.