Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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35. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the number of new community centres opened in 2025 that were built alongside new residential developments and included in the original plans. [67572/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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My department does not have any role in, or information on, the requirements for community infrastructure that may be place as part of planning permissions for new residential developments.

My department supports investment in community centres and community infrastructure through a range of funding programmes. These are based on competitive application processes and a bottom-up approach, where individual communities identify their own needs in collaboration with local authorities and local development companies.

Through the Community Centre Investment Fund, some €110 million has been allocated since 2022 for the enhancement and refurbishment of existing community centres and the construction of new centres where such a need has been identified. In early 2024, funding of over €30 million was approved for the construction of 12 new community centres covering nine counties. These new centres are at various stages of design and delivery, with 6 projects now at construction stage.

I am committed to delivering further iterations of the scheme in the coming years in line with the commitment in the Programme for Government for this to become a permanent rolling fund.