Departmental Budgets
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-05
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Dara Calleary (FF), Mayo

I am going to disagree with the Deputy. We have been agreeing all morning. I see a great and growing sense of confidence as I travel across rural Ireland. I am visiting projects across rural Ireland that are volunteer-led and community-led. They are funded by my Department in partnership with local action groups, LEADER companies and local authorities. They are projects that reflect ambition and a plan. We are in a position to fund that. My Department's funding has increased by 7% for this year.
We are ensuring that rural communities will see increased investment and funding increases in other areas. I assure the Deputy the LEADER programme will deliver its full allocated funding and I can see already the level of claims is increasing as LEADER groups are implementing the programme. The provision for the Gaeltacht and the islands is up 30% year on year from €123 million to €160 million. We discussed community centre investment earlier. That is communities with confidence in their community centres. That is going to €20 million and this year we will see the opening of new centres across the country. Funding for the community services programme, CSP, programme has gone to nearly €60 million delivering services, including community services. I see confidence and we are investing in and supporting that confidence. We are investing in ensuring that confidence makes a difference on the ground.

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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