Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach for choosing this Commencement matter. The Minister of State is welcome to the Chamber. Last March, the Minister for Rural and Community Development announced the first ever dedicated fund for shovel-ready community projects in our towns and villages. This followed a successful scheme from the previous year centred on refurbishment and supports for communities with existing community centres. The new scheme proposes an investment of at least €1 million per amenity, with a focus on the areas and communities that are lacking community facilities. The Minister stated the fund is about delivering ambitious projects that bring communities and families together and the maximum payout would be €6 million. I very much welcome this fund. I was involved with both the Minister and the Taoiseach in progressing this over a number of years and was delighted to see the fund launched and opening to applications. The closing date was 1 July and I am inquiring about the total number of projects. Have they been assessed in terms of the number that are valid? When will decisions be made on the applications?

There are three projects submitted from my county of Galway, with one from my local community of Moycullen through the Moycullen Community Development Association le tacaíocht ó Udarás na Gaeltachta fresin mar cheannródaí ar an togra tábhactach sin. Second, we have the Newcastle Combined Community Association in Galway city. It has a project being supported through the city council, which has provided a site and a long-term lease. That is a very exciting project for that community. The third project is in Glinsk in the north of the county. The Glinsk Community Development Society is campaigning for the building of a new community centre on a greenfield plot, to include childcare, community rooms and multipurpose spaces. I hope all three Galway projects see significant new financing from this new fund. They are all worthy of funding.

Budgets are obviously important and I understand there have been more applications received from this fund than might have been anticipated. It is important approaches are made through Government to ensure there is sufficient funding to support as many of these projects as possible, if not all valid projects. These projects will take a number of years to complete and it is important sufficient funding is being provided. I mentioned that in my community Moycullen Community Development Association, or Forbairt Pobail Mhaigh Cuillinn, has exciting plans for lands at the back of An Teaghlach Uilinn Nursing Home in the heart of the community. It is a former Coillte site. Planning permission has been granted and it is ready to proceed subject to approval to appoint contractors and so on. I certainly hope the funding will be forthcoming. Similarly, the Newcastle project is ready to go. It has the site from Galway City Council and a strong representative group that has been pushing this project for a long number of years. I hope that project will be funded and come to fruition as well. This is an exciting fund for communities up and down and, as I said, I am especially interested in the three Galway projects. Community centres are so important. They are the heart of a community. They are there for young people, elderly people, information meetings, public meetings, drama, sport - you name it. Community centres are the beating heart of communities and this is an exciting fund that will help support communities.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, who sends her apologies that she cannot be here. We all know the valuable role community centres in many towns, villages and urban areas. It is very important to recognise that. With this in mind, the Minister put in place an integrated programme of supports for the establishment and development of community centres across schemes such as CLÁR, LEADER, the community support fund, the town and village renewal scheme and the community centres investment fund the Senator is referring to. More than €45 million has been committed to this important refurbishment work that has been ongoing since 2022, with 850 projects being assisted over that period.

This year the focus of the fund moved to new builds, as the Senator mentioned. The Minister wants to assist community groups striving to build their own community centre to service local needs. The €20 million fund is intended, as the Senator said, to support communities with shovel-ready projects. This is the important thing. The fund has grant funding from €1 million to a maximum of €6 million. These are very significant projects and are envisaged as serving the needs of their communities for years to come. The application deadline was 3 July.

Due to the scale of the funding it is important to recognise that for the purposes of compliance with public financial procedures, the lead party to an application must be a State-funded body such as a local authority, local development company or other State agency.However, it was also open to other community organisations, voluntary groups and civil society bodies to partner with a State body in the submission of applications under the fund. This will help to ensure that community groups are at the centre and to the fore of such developments.

Following the 3 July deadline for applications, I have been advised that 22 applications have been submitted to the 2023 community centre investment fund and they add up to a total of €59 million. That is the number of applications that have been received. As the Senator said clearly, they are being looked at closely in the Department.

Newcastle Community Centre made a request of €4.34 million, which was submitted by Galway City Council. Áras lae, Maigh Cuilinn, submitted by Údarás na Gaeltachta, made a €6 million funding request. Glinsk community development group, submitted by Galway County Council, has sought €2.85 million in funding. The Minister and her colleagues look forward to the commencement of work on these successful projects as soon as the final decision is made with regard to which of these are most suitable.

As stated, the Minister is aware that she expects to be in a position to complete the assessment of the applications in the first quarter of 2024. As we already mentioned, these will be shovel-ready projects. Hopefully, construction will commence and be well advanced during the course of the year in respect of the successful applicants. As I mentioned, however, those decisions will not be made until early 2024.

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for providing that update. I certainly welcome the information provided. To have 22 applications shows the value and importance of the scheme because these are projects that had to have their own sites. They were effectively shovel ready. They had planning permission and they had their own sites to develop. Clearly, 22 applications from around the country in a rather tight timeframe shows how valuable this scheme is and it is important that all those valid applications, or as many as possible, are funded to the maximum possible. That may require additional funding. I certainly hope and expect that the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, will be making the case to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform that these are important. We have talked so often about facilities lacking in communities and communities having lots of houses but not having the required infrastructure, whether it be community centres, schools or whatever else. This is an important fund. I certainly hope the three projects in County Galway and projects up and down the country will get funding.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator. Again, this new community centre investment fund, which was launched by the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, in March of this year, is so important. It gives communities an opportunity to develop brand new facilities that can offer a wide range of services to members of the community for decades to come be it for adult education, news service, book clubs, meeting rooms, sporting facilities, remote working facilities or community centres, and we did not mention the odd social events at night-time that take place in all these organisations.

What is great about this new scheme in particular is that we all know villages and small towns around the country that had old disused community centres that were not in great condition and which benefited from great refurbishment grants. There are areas that did not have a facility to start with, however, and this is aimed specifically at them.

As the Minister has indicated, she will complete the assessment in the first quarter of 2024. On her behalf, I would again like to take the opportunity to wish all the applicant communities the best of luck with their projects. I look forward to seeing the results of the substantial investment coming to fruition. It is an investment that will lead to tangible benefits for the local communities in these areas. On behalf of the Minister, I thank Senator Kyne for raising this matter.