Departmental Funding
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-17
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Gareth Scahill (FG), Nominated by the Taoiseach

I thank the Minister of State very much. She is right that so many people across this House have come through the voluntary sector. Last Thursday the Minister, Deputy Calleary, opened the Castlerea swimming pool. He welcomed the provision of €73,000 from the community recognition fund for the Castlerea Town Team, in conjunction with Roscommon County Council. It is an organisation of which I have been secretary for the past three years. I am a former chairperson of the organisation. I think of the Suck Valley Way. I am a former member of the LCDC in Roscommon so I am familiar with the fund for supporting those groups. I speak with the ICA groups and the community development companies, CDCs, which are keeping buildings going. They are providing support for their communities. In terms of overheads, I was talking to someone who told me the lottos are not paying now. The volunteers to sell the tickets are not there. The costs are continuing to spiral. We are in jeopardy of losing these voluntary organisations and supports within our community if we cannot come up with a fund to support them. The Minister of State spoke of €10 million in 2021 or 2022. That is the sort of money we are talking about. It would go an awfully long way with these community groups. We need to stand up and fight for them. I thank the Minister of State for her contribution today.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:04+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-17