Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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The Minister is most welcome and I thank him for being here

Alison Comyn (Fianna Fail)
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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.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senator Comyn for raising this issue. I wish her well with her 5 km on Easter Monday.

We agree on the importance of community centres. They are where we go for community activities, events, social supports such as she referred to, and social interaction. They are home to many of our cultural, sporting and social support clubs. They are also where communities come together in times of difficulty and times of celebration, as we saw around the country during Storm Éowyn.Over the past four years in particular, my Department has prioritised the development and enhancement of community centres across the country through a new dedicated funding stream for community centres. The community centre investment fund, CCIF, was introduced to respond to the funding needs of community centres in rural and urban areas so that we can continue to support the provision of high-quality and accessible community spaces. Since 2022, the CCIF has provided more than €109 million for the enhancement or refurbishment of existing community centres and the construction of new centres. Under the first fund launched in 2022, over €45 million was committed for improvement and refurbishment works in over 860 existing community centres across Ireland, which included 21 projects in County Louth with funding of over €900,000. I am particularly pleased to note that the majority of these projects are now complete and benefiting communities all over Ireland.

The latest iteration of the community centre investment fund in 2024 also supported the enhancement and refurbishment of community centres. Through that round of funding, more than €33 million has now been approved for more than 770 projects nationwide, including funding of up to €100,000 each that I announced for community centres only last month. A number of successful projects in Louth include the €67,000 for St. Nicholas Gaelic Football Club and €100,000 for the Drogheda Community Services Trust.

The CCIF also supports community groups that are striving to build their own new community centres to service local needs. The 2023 CCIF was opened specifically for applications for this purpose. The 2023 new-build schemes supported communities with shovel-ready projects in greenfield and brownfield sites for the construction of new community centres. Capital grants of between €1 million and €6 million were available to build multifunctional centres in areas that lacked community facilities. Through that iteration of the fund, my Department approved funding of €30 million for the construction of 12 new community centres covering nine counties.

The Moneymore Townland Community Hub was not at a sufficiently advanced stage to be able to apply. However, my Department allocated funding on an exceptional basis, as acknowledged by the Senator, of €80,000 to Louth County Council to facilitate the architectural and engineering services required to bring the project to that shovel-ready stage. The funding was provided in recognition of the need identified in the Drogheda implementation plan. I hope it is bringing the project to the stage where it will be shovel ready for investment.

Our immediate priority is to facilitate the delivery of the 770 projects that have recently been announced, but I am committed to delivering further iterations of the scheme in coming years. This is in line with the commitment in the programme for Government and it has been identified to me as a priority by the Taoiseach for the CCIF to become a permanent rolling fund. Over the coming months, I will give consideration to what the next round of the CCIF will involve and the types of facility that will be targeted. I guarantee that the fund will continue to play a central role in supporting strong and resilient communities.

Alison Comyn (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for attending and responding. We are at a very advanced stage and the plans are ready to be submitted. I would like to invite the Minister to come down at some stage to see those plans and to see just how vital this will be to the community. I thank the Minister for his further consideration on that.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I would certainly be delighted to take up the Senator's invitation. We had a very good visit in October. I am happy to go back and meet the Moneymore committee. It sounds like a fantastic committee. Once again, I wish the Senator every success on Easter Monday.

Imelda Goldsboro (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the guests of Deputy Tony McCormack from the Sacred Heart School, Tullamore, County Offaly. We hope you enjoy your visit.

We will suspend for the duration of a vote in the Dáil.