Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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52. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the extent to which she proposes to assist urban and rural community groups throughout the country through the various schemes available to her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26459/24]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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61. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the extent to which she hopes to continue to assist rural and community groups directly and indirectly, with particular reference to areas with social or economic deficiency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26458/24]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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This question seeks to ascertain the extent to which the Minister proposes or hopes to engage throughout the country with local, voluntary, rural and urban communities to enhance their position, especially those in areas of social or economic deprivation.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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That is an awful lot missed. There is a heap of questions.

Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent)
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There is nobody in the Chamber.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I am running out of answers here, but I will have one for the Deputy.

Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent)
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If the Minister speaks a little slower, we can give her more latitude for her answers.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 52 and 62 together.

My Department operates a range of programmes and schemes that support and assist urban and rural community groups throughout the country. The range of targeted investments and supports offered by my Department fund a wide range of initiatives that help promote rural regeneration, town and village regeneration, outdoor recreation, regional enterprise growth and social inclusion. Capital schemes including the town and village renewal scheme, LEADER, the rural regeneration and development fund, the local improvement scheme, the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme, the community recognition fund and the community centre investment fund are delivering projects throughout the country. The emphasis of the 2023 to 2027 LEADER programme, which builds on the many successful previous programmes, will include the continued development of the rural economy. There will also be a strong focus on building the capacity of marginalised and new communities, particularly in areas that have not benefited from LEADER financial support in the past.

On Friday last I was delighted to announce a further €20 million in funding to support our community groups to upgrade and refurbish the community facilities in their areas. That is open for applications now. The community centre investment fund 2024 refurbishment grant will provide funding from €10,000 up to a maximum of €100,000 towards capital costs. This allocation brings the total amount of funding announced to support the development of community centres to in excess of €95 million since 2022. The community centre investment fund, whether for existing or new centres, has proven to be extremely popular. Current funding supports such as the social inclusion and community activation programme and the community services programme are helping to tackle social exclusion, unemployment, promote social cohesion and support thriving communities.

The schemes administered by my Department are regularly reviewed and, where necessary, adapted and supplemented in response to emerging needs.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for her reply. Naturally, the question refers to the whole country, where I appreciate there are many challenging issues. There are questions of integration that need to be looked at carefully. Questions of social exclusion, or attempts at social exclusion, need to be looked at in particular. While I am obviously concerned about the whole country, I have a soft spot for County Kildare, and especially north Kildare; Kildare North is my constituency. I compliment the Minister on her success and innovative values in dealing with the situation as it presents itself. Especially in the coming year, areas to be targeted should in the first instance be ones that need a particular assistance now so the immediate problem can be dealt with. That affects areas with new Irish, other areas be they urban or rural communities, that can be socially deprived, economically deprived or have a range of people in them who are especially vulnerable.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. We have the community recognition fund. It is a fund responding to help communities that have taken in a lot of immigrants. They have facilitated them and worked well with them. I was delighted phase 2 of the Newbridge Family Resource Centre extension of the community building got €440,000 in 2023. Kildare has been allocated €830,000, which brings the total funding under the fund to more than €1.6 million. That is an important fund. It is a rolling fund, so it is important applications are got in.

Under the local enhancement programme, the Kildare LCDC received an allocation of €208,000, of which €34,749 was ring-fenced for women's groups. Some 54 projects were approved for funding under the main local enhancement programme with 14 women's groups also approved. These are small grants. They are not a lot, but they are small grants that make a difference. I see McAuley Place in Naas got €1,879 for painting. It might not seem a lot, but it is a lot to those people when they get their grants. I have been out to many communities and been able to meet them first-hand and these small amounts help them. The community service programme currently supports six organisations in County Kildare. There are four managers and 16.5 full-time equivalents. They are being supported with contract values for 2024 of €537,762. Again, these are all important supports to communities. The Deputy is right they need the money not after the problem has developed further, but when the problem has arisen. I accept his point.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I am glad the Minister mentioned McAuley Place, which is in my constituency, and Newbridge, which is in the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach's constituency. We are all-inclusive in this business. A huge amount of local voluntary effort and general effort is grant-aided in one way or another has been undertaken by people like those in McAuley Place. There are challenges that come forward in respect of immigration. I do not approach this, nor does the Minister, from the point of view of any antipathy towards immigrants, but to support and recognise that the Irish people are supportive of that.

The message that comes out of the recent local elections clearly indicates that the Irish people do not want to be associated with any antipathy towards other people who live in their areas, whom they welcome. I ask that the Minister to bear that in mind in her deliberations and that the required support be given in order that those agencies that are involved in helping to integrate communities get recognition.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is absolutely right that there are many fantastic communities out there. I have been to Lisdoonvarna, which is a great example of where a community came together and assisted many Ukrainian refugees who came there. I was down there recently and it is a wonderful success story. They were able to tap into the community recognition fund, develop their pitches and sporting facilities and do different things, the same as in the Deputy's constituency. There is loads of good work going on under the radar. Unfortunately, sometimes all we hear are the stories of where it does not go right. There are a lot more cases of many wonderful communities across the country that are helping, particularly through local development companies. They are doing good work on the ground. They are working with, educating and helping people who come to this country, and so many of those people are integrating. They are contributing hugely to our society. We all well know that our hospitals would not operate if we did not have immigrants coming here. As regards our processing plants, we would not have food on the table if we did not have migrants coming here. The industrial wheels of this country depend on people coming here to work, and it is important we recognise that.

We also have the various programmes. Nationally, more than €225 million has been secured for community development programmes in my Department in 2024. The social inclusion and community activation programme and the community services programme will have combined core funding of €100 million. The allocation for community development also provides funding of €21 million for the community centre fund. To further support communities, I announced €50 million in additional funding under the community recognition fund on 15 March last. The additional funding is targeted specifically at projects located in cities, towns and villages that are hosting the beneficiaries of temporary protection and-or international protection. Last Friday, I was delighted to announce a further €20 million in funding to support community groups to upgrade and refurbish community facilities. These community centres are so important in bringing together people from all communities and in breaking down those barriers and, sometimes, the fears some people have. We need to have the conversations, we need to come together and we need to understand one another better in some places.