Departmental Programmes
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-21
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Dara Calleary (FF), Mayo

I thank the Deputy for the invitation. We will bear it in mind. There will be relevant areas in the Deputy's constituency, which is not something we should be proud about. There has not been an urban disadvantage programme that includes capital investment. The Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, is doing huge work with SICAP but this programme needs to make a difference and we need to ensure it is not wasted and the money goes directly to projects and communities.
What I do not want is for it to go into administration or stuff that will not deliver to the communities we want to target it at.
Second, it will be evidence based and massive work. I thank the officials in the Department, who are putting in massive work to try to ensure we have a solid evidence base.
Third, as soon as we get a launch, we will engage in terms of budget negotiations for 2027 and 2028 and to the end of the lifetime of this Government to ensure we can begin to build this up. Whereas €5 million is a small investment, I think it is one that will make a difference in many of these communities if it is targeted appropriately and correctly into facilities that have been identified from within the community.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:58+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-21