Departmental Schemes
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-26
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Dara Calleary (FF), Mayo

I know from speaking to those involved that one of the motivations behind the approach taken during Heather Humphreys' time in office was the need to help the exact kind of community that Deputy Burke has spoken about. There was massive development back in the seventies and eighties. Perhaps there are three of us in the Chamber who are old enough to remember AnCO. I will not say which three people I am thinking of. Through AnCO and through the skills of the people involved at the time, many community centres were built across the country in the seventies and eighties. When it became very apparent that they needed substantial investment in terms of energy and facilities, that was the initial intention of the CCIF. Some €30 million was then approved for 12 new community centres in nine counties. Eight of those projects have construction workers on site and the remaining projects are going through tender and design. I hope that, subject to budget, we will be in a position in 2027 - the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer shares this priority - to focus again on new builds and on new communities such as those referred to by Deputy Burke. It will be competitive. One of the biggest topics we hear about in terms of community centre investment is the need for new builds. We will have a very competitive process. New communities that do not have facilities and need the kinds of facilities that a community centre can give and the kind of hub that a community centre can give will be the focus. Subject to budget, I can assure the Deputy that will be the focus for the 2027 scheme.

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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