Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising the issue. I am sorry that the Minister could not be here to take the debate herself. She is committed. I will certainly bring back to her the Senator's message that we need to strengthen the commitment and the language involved. I will again point to the budget that is set aside and approved by the Government as well as to the targets to have the engagement completed this year and plans rolled out in good time. I will bring those points to the Minister in the hope those concerns can be dealt with.

I am meeting representatives of the Meath Partnership this week, along with our MEPs, to analyse and discuss their work. Every time we meet, the partnership is doing more work and providing more services. I know the story is similar throughout the country. There are great interventions happening as we work with communities and bring them together in many areas. We are committed to that. I have heard the Senator's concerns about the length of time involved and the commitments in that regard. The commitments are strong. It does take time but we need to speed it up. I will bring that back to the Minister. As the Senator knows, she is a can-do Minister. She will drive these matters on and ensure they are done in time.