asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health if he will consider making funds available for grants to responsible local committees for the erection of parish halls in rural districts, so that the younger generation may be provided with facilities for attending Irish classes, dances and other similar functions, where none exists at present.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Erection of Parish Halls.
Under Section 73 of the Local Government Act, 1941, a county council may provide a hall for use by an approved local council for public and other meetings and lectures and for general recreation or other social objects. Some parish halls have been erected without any assistance from public funds. The most recent is a hall at Ballyduff (near Lismore), County Waterford, opened last May. A hall was also built and furnished at Tobercurry in County Sligo during the emergency.
Subventions are not essential if the people of a parish have sufficient self-reliance. The Deputy will find a full account of how the people of Ballyduff combined to provide themselves with a parish hall in the handbook of the Muintir na Tíre Conference held at Waterford recently.