Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 February 2023
4. Deputy Michael Collins asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the amount of funding that has been allocated to Cork South-West since the rural regeneration and redevelopment fund grant aid commenced; where it has been allocated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9426/23]
View answerRural regeneration funding has been with us for the past number of years. The question is how much has been allocated from the rural regeneration fund to the constituency of Cork South-West and where that money has been allocated since the fund was set up.
I thank Deputy Collins for raising this question.
The rural regeneration and development fund, RRDF, provides funding for the development and construction of capital projects in towns and villages and rural areas across Ireland. To date, 215 projects have been approved for funding of €395 million for projects costing €542 million across the country. The fund is central to achieving the objectives and key deliverables of Our Rural Future, the Government's five-year policy for rural Ireland. The projects supported by the fund assist in the regeneration of rural towns and villages by addressing vacancy and dereliction and positioning them for further growth through regeneration and town centre renewal. The fund also invests in strategic projects that contribute to further economic development in rural areas.
Three projects located in south-west Cork have been allocated RRDF funding of €9.6 million for projects worth €22.7 million. The projects are the Kinsale library project, for which Cork County Council was awarded €2.15 million under the first call for category 1 applications in 2018, and two projects for which I awarded funding under the fourth call for category 1 applications late last year. Those are the Bandon town centre renewal and regeneration project, for which Cork County Council was awarded €5.5 million, and the Neart enterprise, creative and digital hub on Sherkin Island, for which Comhar na nOileán was awarded over €1.9 million. The projects allocated funding in south-west Cork are large-scale capital projects that will have a lasting impact and be truly transformational for the communities there.
I thank the Minister for her reply. Obviously, funding to any community is important, and I would certainly welcome any moneys that have gone to the Kinsale library project, Bandon town centre or Sherkin Island. The Minister said, however, that there are 215 projects in total, and I think this scheme has been up and running for about five years. It is incredible, to say the least, that Cork South-West has ended up with only three projects across the line in that much time. There is a project on Dursey Island that has been pulled. There is a project in the Schull harbour area in respect of which, prior to Deputy Humphreys becoming Minister, the committee involved was brought up here and congratulated that it had got the money. A week later, when the money was announced, it had slipped away to some other constituency. A project such as the Schull harbour one would have been of huge benefit to the whole of the Mizen Peninsula. These are areas that find it difficult to survive in winter. There needs to be a bigger focus on communities like Cork South-West for this funding.
I hope to go back to Kinsale shortly to open that new library. I think the project is well on. Bandon has got funding - I think €5 million - for the town centre regeneration. I was in Bandon earlier in the year and met the Deputy's brother Danny down there. He is the cathaoirleach of Cork County Council. We had a great day there. There is a fabulous park in Bandon that we visited. That park was funded through the LEADER programme. I had a good conversation with the local community there. I talked to businesspeople. I think the €5 million for Bandon will make a huge difference in the town, and I wish the people there well with their work. They highlighted the issue of dereliction. That funding should be able to assist them in many different ways to develop the centre of the town. When I was there I went to the farmers' market as well. I also visited the local producers' co-op, which sells its products there. I know the money they have got will help them to improve their town. As I said, three applications came in and they were successful. My Department has to get the applications before we can approve the funding. We have been engaging with Cork County Council. If the Deputy looks overall through the whole of Cork, he will see that a lot of funding has been provided under all the different funding streams of my Department, whether it is the town and village scheme, the outdoor recreation scheme or the streetscape enhancement scheme. There is a lot of funding out there, and I encourage people to put in their applications.
The Minister may be aware of the All-Island Research Observatory, AIRO, report. I hope Cork County Council made her aware of it when she was in west Cork recently. It is an independent report drawn up by the council, which has proved that County Cork has seen the lowest amount of funding over the past 30 to 40 years. County Cork is 40 to 50 years behind on funding in respect of roads, rural regeneration, the town and village scheme and the local improvement scheme, LIS. I accept that a lot of this is before the Minister's time, but that was an independent report and I have asked the previous Taoiseach to acknowledge the report. I will ask the new Taoiseach to acknowledge it. It is a shocking indictment of successive governments turning their backs on the rural community.
The Minister said she was in west Cork recently. So was Deputy Varadkar, when he was Tánaiste, about six months ago. He stood in the area of the Schull harbour project, which was perfectly suited to rural regeneration funds. He stood there almost tongue-in-cheek and, at the same time, he was the Taoiseach in the Government that refused to give the people involved the money, even though they ticked all the boxes and, as I said, were brought up here, got a pat on the back, were told they would get the money by three Ministers and had their picture taken. Pictures went up on social media all right, but they never got a brown cent.
We need a better focus on places like west Cork and rural Ireland, especially with rural regeneration funds, if we are to try to get communities to survive during the winter period, as they may be able to do during the summer.
I am looking here at the town and village renewal scheme funding alone, and west Cork has not been doing too badly. I look at Bantry, which got €216,000 on top of RRDF funding. Dunmanway got €96,000. Glengarriff got €100,000 for installing a new riverside walk. I was out on the Beara Peninsula, where they are doing wonderful work on the Beara walk and the equestrian trail. There are a lot of opportunities, but the applications have to be submitted. If they are not, my Department cannot give the projects the money. I will be going back to Cork, no doubt. I was in Banteer. I know that is not in the Deputy's constituency but, my goodness, what a wonderful day we had there. We have been able to support wonderful facilities there, not only through LEADER but also through other funding that has been provided. It is a credit to what they have done as a community there. They got their application in and got the funding, and it is a state-of-the-art facility. The Deputy's brother was there too so he will be able to give him a good briefing on what they were able to do.
I encourage communities to come together and work with their local authorities and get these applications in. That is what this Department is about. It is about supporting them. However, applications have to stack up. People might have good ideas but they have to have plans and have to make sure the project is sustainable and will deliver for the people on the ground. That is important because all applications are independently assessed when they come into my Department and some of them do not cut the mustard. For those that do not, I suggest going back to the drawing board, having another look, engaging with the Department, seeing where they fell down and getting the application in for the next time. The good news is that the money is still there.
