Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 December 2021
49. Deputy Paul Donnelly asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development when the new round of funding will start to be allocated to community centres; and if the amount announced will be sufficient to cover the needs of all local authority and non-local authority-run centres. [60157/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraI raise the new round of funding which will be allocated to community centres. Is the €6 million fund sufficient to cover the need of local authority and non-local authority-run centres? I am concerned about local authority and non-local authority community centres. The former already have a substantial stream from the local authorities themselves.
First, I wish to acknowledge the importance of community centres. They are the cornerstone of community life in many places around the country. As the Deputy is aware, a new capital fund for the upgrade of community centres featured in the national development plan and funding of €5 million has been secured for this under budget 2022. This is consistent with the programme for Government commitment to establish a small capital grants scheme for the maintenance, improvement and upkeep of community centres.
The details of this capital scheme are currently being developed within the Department. While details are yet to be finalised, it is likely that community centres in urban and rural areas will be eligible and that the types of work that will be eligible will include works to address safety concerns, works to improve disability access, works to improve communal facilities such as kitchens and toilets, as well as energy retrofitting. The scheme will be launched in early 2022 and further details will be announced in due course.
Separately, my Department has a number of schemes that are relevant to community centres such as the community enhancement programme. The programme in 2021 provided €4.5 million in funding for small capital grants for the improvement of facilities and it will be available again in 2022.
More recently and more substantially, I recently launched the community activities fund to support community and voluntary groups impacted by Covid-19. This fund will help community groups, particularly in disadvantaged areas, with their running costs such as utility or insurance bills, as well as with improvements to their facilities.
I thank the Minister of State. I am sure he is tired of being spoken to about Hartstown Community Centre, which is close to my heart. We have been passionately trying to help and support it. Unfortunately, it recently endured another crisis, with an inspection from Tusla leading to another really difficult and stressful time for the voluntary board of management. Unfortunately, the management needs a massive investment of funding in the centre to turn it into a modern community centre. The existing funding is very welcome and helpful in keeping the centre ticking over. However, community centres not owned by a local authority do not get the same level of funding. For example, if this situation were happening in a local authority community centre in the next community - and there is one there - funding would have been secured and the problem sorted out by now. It is unfair that because the diocese and the community took on board the management, running, ownership and so on of Hartstown Community Centre, it is again being left with very small amounts of funding when it needs a massive injection of it.
The Deputy is probably aware that in my own council area Fingal County Council got an allocation of €301,000 from the community activities fund. That needs to be allocated before the end of February but it can be spent until the end of August next year. That is a substantial amount. It is in the area of small grants but they have an impact as well.
The criteria for the new programme are being worked on at the moment. We would be slow to make it exclusive because there are always unusual situations arising, even with local authority centres. The criteria are being developed at the moment. As I mentioned, the community enhancement programme in Fingal is worth €150,000 this year as well. I take the Deputy's point on the scale of funding that is needed. The Minister is committed to growing the size of the fund as well.
I was hoping to hear something on substantial amounts of funding but also on the other aspect of this, because it is an extremely important point, which I will make again. Local authorities have substantial funding. For example, Fingal County Council, which is one of the wealthiest local authorities in the State, has substantial funding and is able to utilise that funding, as well as borrowing and so on, for capital funding for its own local authority community centres. I have seen it. Those centres do fantastic work and I have no issue with that and have supported it 100% of the way. However, we have centres that are not owned by local authorities. Maybe they are owned by a diocese or a local community group that came together. They are all over the place but the one I know best is the one in Hartstown. That centre does not have access to those types of funding streams, to borrowing or to any of the different measures that are in place for local authorities. I urge that this €5 million be allocated exclusively for centres that are not owned by local authorities. I hope the Minister and Minister of State will consider doing so in future.
As the Deputy says, Fingal stands out as one of the better-off local authorities. There will be exceptions in other parts of the country as well. Community centres start up in a variety of different ways. They all have very different sorts of life paths with respect to how they started and how the initial funding became a reality as well. It is fair to say the majority of community centres around the country are not owned or run by a local authority. They have often come out of parish centres and are connected to sports clubs and other services as well. Broadly speaking, centres that are not owned by local authorities will very much be part of what is targeted by the scheme. I think needs will also be part of the criteria. We obviously want to target the funds where they are needed most. That will be part of the plan going forward. It is a fund we want to grow over time as well.
