asked the Minister for Local Government if he will consider the possibility of restoring amenity grants.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Amenity Grants.
5.
Because of the necessity to conserve available funds to make maximum provision for priority services such as housing and sanitary services and to provide for the phasing out of the charge on the ratepayers in respect of the health services and housing subsidies, it is not possible to make any allocations under the amenity grants scheme in 1976. There is always a possibility of restoring the scheme in the future but I see no immediate prospect of that.
Is the Minister aware that these grants, though small, were of tremendous benefit to local communities in the development of halls and so on? Work has been suspended on many such developments now and would he agree that there is great necessity for this kind of development?
I do but I believe that if amenity grants are restored they will have to be restored on a far greater scale than before. I honestly do not believe anybody would start building a hall with an amenity grant of £1,000. These grants helped in a small way but the amount divided over the whole country was just not sufficient and I see no prospect of making money available this year any way, but who knows?
Would the Minister agree that there is a great deal of emphasis now on the development of local communities and would he not agree such development is worthwhile in the interests of young people particularly and, for that reason, would he not regard the provision of money for this purpose as a priority?
I am afraid the Deputy is not obeying the Chair by asking brief supplementary questions.
There is no point in giving a small sum. I would like to see amenity grants restored but I would also like to see sizeable grants made available.
Would the Minister not agree that this is the type of thing the Parliamentary Secretary to the Taoiseach was talking about during the week?
I am not aware of what the Parliamentary Secretary was talking about. I do not read everybody's speech in the paper.
Is the Minister stating the grants were no incentive because I will categorically contradict that? Many people did a lot of useful work when they got an incentive of a few hundred pounds.
Certainly the grants were an incentive but not in the building of community halls because £1,000 would not even start such a project.