Written answers
Tuesday, 25 April 2023
Department of Rural and Community Development
Departmental Funding
Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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88. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development when she will announce successful projects under the Community Support Fund in Cork; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19400/23]
Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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The Community Support Fund, launched on 18 November, is a Fund designed to assist thousands of community groups across the country. Support is available to, for example, Parish Halls, Community Centres, Local Development Associations, Social Clubs, Senior Citizen Groups, Men’s and Women’s Sheds. The fund will deliver small grants to help groups with running costs and rising energy bills. Groups can also use the funding to carry out small upgrade works and to purchase equipment to support their activities such as laptops and printers, lawnmowers, training equipment, etc.
The funding is administered on behalf of my Department locally by Local Community Development Committees www.gov.ie/en/policy-information/f4022e-local-community-development-committees-lcdcs/ (LCDCs) across the country, with support from their Local Authority. The Community Support Fund is now closed to applicants and details of successful projects for Cork will be published on my Department’s website www.gov.ie/drcd, in the coming weeks.
David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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90. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she has considered the establishment of a fund which would be open to applications from schools to facilitate the use of buildings after hours for community purposes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19232/23]
Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The CLÁR Programme provides funding under a number of different measures for small-scale infrastructural projects in designated rural areas that have experienced significant levels of depopulation over a defined period. Since the CLÁR Programme was relaunched in 2016, it has supported a wide range of measures. Funding of over €57 million has been approved for almost 2,100 projects since its relaunch. I launched CLÁR 2023 on 29 March 2023 and the measures to be funded are:
- Developing Community Facilities and Amenities (Measure 1)
- Mobility, Cancer Care and Community First Responders Transport (Measure 2)
- ‘Our Islands’ (Measure 3)
The Department of Education's Guidelines on theUse of School Buildings Outside of School Hoursprovide information which schools should take into consideration where a third party is seeking to use school property or facilities. In such circumstances it is a matter for the owner of the school to decide whether a proposed use can be considered. A school, may, with the approval of the board of management, make arrangements to rent out their facilities for community purposes and reimburse the school at an acceptable rate to cover the costs involved.
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