Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I support the amendment, which widens the scope for communities in an appropriate way.Senator Higgins raised a very important point about communities and community projects. I am very much involved with the Lanesborough community as it is literally down the road from me. Every second household had a job with Bord na Móna or with the ESB. This is why I am so strongly committed on this. The real way to keep a community together is to create jobs. We do not want people going from the area and we do not want unemployment to hit the area because it moves people away.

On the matter of funding, the Minister will be well aware that organisations such as Bord na Móna, ESB and Coillte are currently funding many community projects such as the Sliabh Bawn walkway, which I recently walked backwards, and they are involving themselves in projects for older communities also. While these projects are there, I agree that it is very important to have that as part and parcel of what we are doing.