Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Nelson Murray for raising this issue. Given that so many people in County Meath have roots in County Mayo, it is inevitable that there would be strong women there. It is important that the Senator has raised this matter today. The importance of high-quality accessible spaces for community groups is beyond doubt. As the Senator said, we have all witnessed the massive contribution of the men's shed movement, and now the women’s shed movement. Is there any family out there that has not needed or will not need the assistance at some stage of the cancer support groups that do such amazing work across the country?

Since I became Minister for community development earlier this year, I have prioritised investment in community infrastructure and in services to support our communities. As part of budget 2026, I am delighted to announce increased funding for the programmes that are delivering on this priority. This includes an increase in the annual budget for the community centre investment fund, by €3 million to €20 million. This fund was introduced to provide high-quality accessible community spaces that are available to all groups in all communities, both in rural and in urban areas. The fund has provided €110 million since 2022 for the enhancement and refurbishment of existing community centres and the construction of new centres. This includes funding of up to €100,000 each that I announced for 369 community centres earlier this year. In the Senator's county, funding of €1.9 million has been provided for a new community centre in Kilcloon, one of 12 centres receiving funding under the fund. Over €4.8 million has been provided to County Meath through the community centre investment fund in less than four years. In addition, my Department has allocated over €1.1 million to Meath under the CLÁR programme, which is also focused on community facilities and community transport services in the more rural parts of the county.

I assure Senator Nelson Murray that I am fully committed to delivering further rounds of funding under the community centre investment fund and the CLÁR programme so that there will be many opportunities for groups such as those she has spoken about. I recommend that the Senator should speak to her colleague, Senator Mark Duffy, who has led on the creation of a community space in an old school in Ballina. That sounds like something that might work for the combined work that the Senator is envisaging here and I recommend that the Senator have a look at that model.

In relation to men's sheds and women's sheds, and I welcome my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, to the Chamber, we are supporting men's sheds and women's sheds through the Local Enhancement Programme, SICAP and the LEADER programme. The funding under these schemes is also available to cancer support groups.

I encourage groups that need to invest in new or improved community spaces to engage with their local authority and local development company to identify what options may be available. I am more than happy to ask my officials to brief the Senator in relation to that.

My Department has channelled funding through the Irish Men's Sheds Association to distribute directly to men's sheds. The Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, and I were pleased to announce a financial package with the association for this year which will enable it to distribute up to €1 million in supports to men's sheds across the country. We are awaiting the finalisation of that package with it. We are committed to providing any support we can for the development of a national governing body for women's sheds to ensure that individual women’s sheds can benefit from having a strong national representative body to advocate on their behalf. My officials have been engaging with representatives from women’s sheds and the Department of Health with a view to delivering on this objective. Once this is done, we are more than happy to discuss centralised funding.

I commend the work of all the groups the Senator referred. I thank all of the extraordinary volunteers who lead them. Without the volunteers in the groups the Senator has referred to, our country and the Senator's county would be a much poorer place.