Community Development Projects
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-05
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Jerry Buttimer (FG), Cork South-Central

The points the Deputy made are fair comments. Both the Minister and I are very much aware from our own involvement and engagement. We have travelled the country and met with the community and voluntary sector. As a former director of my own community association, I know they are very resilient in sourcing funding from a variety streams. In the budget announced last November, there is a 6% increase in funding from our Department, which is a demonstration of the ambition the Minister and I have in terms of supporting and developing community organisations in our rural towns, urban suburbs and communities across the country.
This is a very genuine point. As part of the consultative process for Our Rural Future and in new the community and voluntary sector strategy, there has been a strong articulation of the points the Deputy has raised. Both the Minister and I will reflect on that as we look at the new Our Rural Future design and the community and voluntary sector strategy when we publish it later this year.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-05/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:36+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-05