Last week, it was reported that families face paying €400 more for electricity and heating this winter. The Tánaiste has said the Government will look at increasing the fuel allowance but that allowance is very limited. People who lose their jobs must wait 15 months before they qualify for the fuel allowance. This is particularly important given the thousands of people who have lost their jobs due to Covid. There is also an issue when people get sick, and this will affect people who have long Covid, and go on to il…

I recently asked the National Transport Authority, NTA, to increase the frequency of the Local Link service from Ballaghaderreen to Roscommon town in my constituency. This route passes through a number of small rural towns and villages, some of which have no public transport whatsoever. The service also provides an important link to Roscommon hospital. I have sought for the service to be increased from two days to four. The NTA has advised that it will work with Local Link to enhance the service but does not actual…

Events have now superseded this question. It was to ask the Minister about increasing funding for the local improvement scheme, LIS. I welcome the recent announcement that funding for this year will be doubled. This provides the Minister with an opportunity to tell us more about that doubling of investment.

I thank the Minister for her reply. I welcome that new investment and increase in funding for the local improvement scheme because it is a vital scheme for access to homes and farms in rural areas via rural roads and laneways. A colleague in this House asked for the numbers of local authorities that had a waiting list until now but those figures were not available. Galway County Council has received 241 valid applications and the funding it has received up until now will allow 28 of those projects to proceed. It is…

Does the Minister know what the backlog is? She is doubling investment in the scheme. Galway County Council had 241 valid applications and 213 could not be moved. Will Galway County Council be able to cover those projects with this new funding? I welcome what the Minister said about matched funding. She has engaged with the Minister, Deputy Ryan, which is welcome. Does she see that engagement coming to fruition and providing funding next year or ahead of the budget in October? I assume she intends to proceed with m…

I ask the Minister if she will examine re-introducing a funding stream in her Department for men's sheds across the State. There is a wonderful, growing organisation, but it is struggling since it does not have a funding stream. It applies for funding here, there and everywhere. Sometimes it gets funding and sometimes it does not. It would be great to see a definite and direct funding stream as was previously in place for our men's sheds, which do wonderful work across the State.

As the Minister of State knows, a stream of funding under that very community enhancement programme was in place, which was extended to women's sheds in 2019. That funding has not been in place since. I am not speaking about the community enhancement programme, which I acknowledge the Minister of State referenced and is in place, but the direct stream of funding for men's sheds under that scheme that is no longer available. I acknowledge that there are many different grants and schemes across both rural and communi…

The vital work that men's sheds and the support they offer, especially in remote and rural areas, is very important. It will be even more important now as we emerge from the Covid pandemic. I had the pleasure of visiting the men's shed in Ballaghaderreen last week, which is a really wonderful support for men in the town and outside it. It is replicated in 460 sheds throughout the State. I met with the Irish Men's Sheds Association, which the Minister of State referenced, yesterday. Its members are putting together …

This question asks the Minister about progress on a number of commitments in Our Rural Future. One is the establishment of a community ownership fund to help community groups purchase or take over local community assets for community use. It also asks if potential State-owned properties in rural towns and villages have been identified to date.

Will the Minister outline how she envisages the community ownership fund will work? I appreciate it is in the work programme for 2022. I speak in relation to vacant buildings in the possession of the likes of the Office of Public Works, OPW. There are 75 of them in the State that are currently vacant and many of them are former Garda stations. Some will be auctioned off this month. These vacant properties lie in rural towns and villages throughout the State. I know the OPW has made the list available to the Departm…

The list of 75 vacant properties in the possession of the OPW went to the Department. Has the Minister had any engagement with the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, or the OPW on the use of those properties for community purposes in rural towns and villages? Some of them are going up for auction this month. That is regrettable, especially if some level of engagement between the Department and the OPW or the Minister of State has not taken place. A number of the vacant properties are under consideration by the lo…

A pilot was done under the town centre living initiative and 15 suggested actions came out of it. Have those suggested actions been reviewed by the Minister's Department? One of them was to appoint town centre officers, perhaps in local authorities, who would assist property owners. We know there have been issues in this area and the pilot report also acknowledged legal issues in regard to ownership. The idea is that town centre officers would get in and engage with property owners where properties are being left i…

I welcome that an interdepartmental group has been established. I look forward to the Minister outlining the four pillars of action to which she referred.

Reference has already been made to the subject matter of this question. Has progress been made to provide and resource dedicated staff within local authorities to support town centre renewal, as committed to in Our Rural Future?

I thank the Minister for her response. This is a good initiative and it will drive the town centre approach in a collaborative way. There is a real need for staff to be placed in local authorities. I presume the Minister is considering one such town centre officer per local authority. They will have a crucial role to play in developing rural town centres, many of which need a dedicated approach in respect of town centre development, which will be very important. The Minister stated these staff will be in place. The…

I hope we see the report from that interdepartmental group before the end of the year. I hope we see moves being made to hire these town centre officers and to put them in place in our local authorities across our rural counties to ensure that the town centre first approach works and is driven on by our local authorities in those local areas.

This question relates to the funding of the e-Mental Health Hub in Castlerea, County Roscommon, in my constituency. While events have superseded this given the fact that this funding has now been announced, halfway through the year, which I acknowledge and welcome very much, I want to know why the funding did not come into place last January, rather than halfway through the year as it is now.

I thank the Minister of State, but I must ask the question again. I appreciate that a large amount of money went into developing this centre last year. It was opened in June 2020 and funding was made available for four posts. The remaining funding was to be put in place from 2021. The four posts were put in place and people were hired. Then the funding was pulled or ended in some way at the end of 2020. It is only now in July 2021 that funding has been put in place. These are critical services for young people thro…

I will use my time to talk about rents outside of the rent pressure zones. I refer to places in my constituency such as Roscommon town and Ballinasloe, County Galway. Rents in County Roscommon have increased by more than 9% in the last year alone, with the average rent now €783 per month and continuing to rise. The average rent in Ballinasloe is €743, which is an increase of almost 8% on this time last year. However, in many cases, rents are much higher. County Galway is one of eight counties in which the average r…

Why has the Minister decided to move away from the not-for-profit model of local employment services and job clubs to a payment-by-results model in the recently launched tender? Was that based on the conclusions of the external report carried out on job activation and contracted services within the Department of Social Protection?