Rural regeneration funding in Cork South-West
Deputy Collins questioned why Cork South-West had received no rural regeneration funding despite shovel-ready projects. The Tánaiste said applications are scored by the Department and promised to raise the issue with the Minister.
In the past week, €70 million in rural regeneration funding has been announced. Rural regeneration funds are a lifeline for rural communities throughout our country. I fully congratulate any town or village that has been successful in getting funds.
The Tánaiste launched this scheme in 2018. Can he explain why, in 2019, 2020 and 2021, when both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have headed the Government, Cork South-West got zero funds, even though it had shovel-ready projects?
One is the Schull Harbour development project, which would have created up to 50 jobs in the Beara Peninsula. Another is the Dursey cable car project in Castletownbere, which would bring massive tourism to the peninsula and to west Cork. The third project in west Cork for which funding was refused involved doing up the surrounds of Bandon town, which has been decimated by flooding and sewerage works.
The rural regeneration and development fund is, in my view, a slush fund for towns and villages in constituencies that have Ministers in government. Can the Tánaiste answer why Cork South-West, where there are shovel-ready projects, continues to be overlooked for rural regeneration while other towns and villages, which do not have projects that are shovel-ready, get funding?
Comment on this
As I understand it, the applications are received by the Department of Rural and Community Development, which has a scoring system. It is against this scoring system that projects are assessed and a decision is made on which ones to fund. I cannot answer as to why no projects in the Deputy's constituency have been funded. There must be a reason and those who have put forward those projects and are promoting them are entitled to know why they did not receive funding. I certainly will speak to the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, about this and ask that she create a system whereby, at least, people who do not get funding understand why and can perhaps apply again and get funding the next time. That is what we do with sports capital funding. Sometime people do not get funding one year but they might get it the next year or the year after. That is probably the best approach in this case too.