Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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61. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if the fund for tidy towns will increase to reflect the lower number of outdoor staff in local authority areas. [62548/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Supervalu TidyTowns competition is a unique community movement which has a huge impact on our communities throughout Ireland. It is an extremely effective and important sustainability initiative in Ireland, both from an environmental and community perspective. It encourages communities to improve their local environment and make their area a better place to live, work and visit. The competition has evolved in recent years, widening its focus to supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

TidyTowns groups contribute to making places great locations to live, work or indeed visit. They do this with the support of local businesses, voluntary groups, schools and indeed the entire community.

At the national awards ceremony in the RDS in October, I was delighted to announce Trim, Co Meath as Ireland's Tidiest Town for 2022. At the event I also announced a funding package of €1.4 million to support TidyTowns groups in their initiatives for the 2023 competition. This funding brings the total allocation by my Department since 2017 to €8.1 million in direct funding to over 1,000 TidyTowns groups.

The voluntary effort and dedication of each TidyTown group is also typically supported by the local authority in which a given group operates. However, my Department has no role in relation to the employment of outdoor staff in local authorities.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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62. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development when the next round of the Community Centre Investment fund will open. [62545/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Government is aware of the challenges facing community and voluntary organisations and I was delighted to secure €20 million in funding under Budget 2023 to continue the Community Centres Investment Fund.

This builds on the €15 million which was announced under the fund in 2022. The huge interest in this fund shows how important community centres are for communities throughout Ireland. This Government is committed to providing funding to improve and upgrade these centres which will allow them to continue to provide services for communities to come together.

On October 12th, I announced over €12.5 million in funding for almost 580 successful Category 1 applicants. On December 8th, I was delighted to announce a further €33 million in funding for 278 successful Category 2 and 3 applicants. Details of the successful applicants are available on my Department’s website.

It is intended that the 2023 fund will be targeted for new build community centres as well as upgrades and improvements to existing centres. The details of this scheme are currently being developed by officials within my Department and I hope to announce further details in quarter 1 of 2023.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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63. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of applications that have been made for grants under the Community Support Fund. [61829/22]