Alison Comyn (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for attending the Seanad to hear this important message from the people of Drogheda and south Louth more widely. The Moneymore Townland Community Hub is set to become a vital space for families, children and young people, a safe, secure and purpose-built facility where the community can come together and access essential front-line services, which are currently being provided by the Connect Family Resource Centre and CABLE youth diversion project. However, to make this vision a reality, support is needed to reinstate the community centre investment fund, commonly known as the CCIF, for new community centre builds, allowing the community hub to apply for crucial capital funding.

The project is estimated to cost €6 million in total and the group gratefully received €80,000 for preparatory work, with the community needing to raise €300,000 in matched funding to progress the project. I am going to take part in the first Drogheda 5 km, which is the Easter 5 km on Easter Monday, to help raise funds. I encourage anybody who has not signed up yet to do that. It will be a drop in the ocean but certainly every little bit helps.

The team, under the guidance of Cliodhna Cunningham and Valerie Atherton, has secured land for the hub in Roaches Lane, The Twenties, which is close to the port area northern cross route, PANCR, and has received funding from the Department of Justice for the design and the Department of Rural and Community Development for the planning permission. Having achieved these successes, the team members are now trying to raise the required matched funding before they can apply for the capital grant scheme, now available from the Department of Rural and Community Development.

The hub is planned for north Drogheda, an area going through a massive urban expansion, and will receive a rapidly growing community. There are 7,500 new households in development. The local population, which is currently over 18,000, is expected to rise by an additional 21,000 residents. However, much of this growth is happening in areas facing significant social and economic challenges.

The new community hub will have four anchor tenants: Moneymore Community House; Connect Family Resource Centre; the Foróige CABLE youth diversion project; and the Moneymore after-school project. They are currently all shoehorned into little houses in the community. They are in dire need of this new hub. There is no room for expansion. I worked with these groups for years in my former role as a journalist. They do incredible work providing invaluable services. Their weekly food bank is always well attended and well supported by the community, and they pioneered a local period poverty scheme so no young girl or woman would ever go without. Tina Kearney has been a mammy to thousands of children in the community crèche over the years, giving local parents an important chance to either work or go back to education or training in order to get jobs.

Moneymore estate is home to the existing front-line service. It is classified as one of the most disadvantaged areas in the country. Recent data has identified three additional areas in the north Drogheda area where this hub will be based as falling within deprivation index. While public funding has significantly expanded the front-line service's staffing, securing capital funding for premises remains critical.

The fundraising efforts continue, but timely reinstatement of the CCIF for new community centres is essential. A successful funding application would not just build a much-needed facility, but transform lives, offering families and children in the area a much brighter future.