Rural Schemes
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-26
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Liam Quaide (SD), Cork East

What people see in towns like Midleton and Carrigtohill is residential development moving ahead much faster than amenity provision. New houses are being built at pace and more families are moving in, but the facilities which are core to community life are lagging badly behind. There is a sense that many families describe of being in a town that is thriving but impoverished in respect of the most basic communities that matter families on a daily basis, such as youth facilities, playgrounds and skate parks. Does the Minister of State accept that if funding is not systematically matched to population growth this is exactly what happens? We get housing estate after housing estate but not the facilities needed to build a connected community. We get long, frustrating drives to other towns or even villages to have basic community needs met. In Midleton, for instance, we drive to Mogeely to use the playground. Can the Minister of State say his Department has any clear way of matching funding to population growth so that we have a predictable, systematic spread of amenities or will our towns and villages still be left to fend for themselves through piecemeal schemes?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-26/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:47+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-26