The Minister is most welcome to Seanad Éireann.

The Minister, Deputy Calleary, is very welcome to the House. Of course, he is always welcome to Kildare. I know he has been there a number of times and if he would like to come to see the area I will talk about, he would absolutely be more than welcome. It is just a small detour on the way home to lovely Mayo.

I raise a Commencement in relation to the Moore Abbey estate in Monasterevin, A monastery was originally founded on the Moore Abbey estate in the 6th or 7th century by St. Evin, whom Monasterevin is called after. This monastery was built in a wooded area, Ros Glas, which is now Moore Abbey. In the 1100s, a new abbey was built on the same spot and in the 1760s the 6th Earl of Drogheda acquired the beautiful Moore Abbey estate. He commissioned what is a wonderful historic house, which is rarely open to the public. Sometimes, at the Manley Hopkins festival, I have had the opportunity to be in there. Count John McCormack rented this house for ten years during his successful career. There is talk in the annals about local people hearing the beautiful music and singing coming from Moore Abbey; that was from 1925 to 1935. It then became a convent and now the Muiríosa Foundation owns the House and estate. The Muiríosa Foundation does excellent work for people with autism and people with intellectual disability. At one point, this was a residential home but now, following all the good practice in this area, the people who are clients of Muiríosa Foundation moved from residential out into the community, which is absolutely working for everyone else.

This is a lovely site, with lovely woodland, beautiful walks and a swimming pool. A sale was announced last week of the site of the old St. Paul's Secondary School, which is very happy to have a new St. Paul's Secondary School that opened two years ago. I had hoped this site might transition into an apprenticeship school and had been liaising with the Minister, Deputy James Lawless, in relation to that, but it has been sold to a commercial entity, Lidl, to provide a low-cost shopping supermarket for people in the area. I am sure that is very welcome news, however, the fact is that a very significant sum of money will be going to the State from this sale through the Department of education. That money should be spent in the Monasterevin area. I cannot think of a better acquisition than to try to reach an agreement with the Muiríosa Foundation to be able to acquire part of the Moore Abbey estate.

South Kildare only has one public swimming pool. For the people of Monasterevin, Kildangan, Rathangan and Kildare town, it would be a great boon. Part of the site was already sold a number of years ago to the Department of education to get the new St. Paul's Secondary School. I was involved in that when I was on Kildare County Council. Part of the site is now going for a new fire station for Kildare County Council but it would be wonderful if, through his Department, the Minister could liaise with the Department of education to support this very viable project for the people of Monasterevin and the area.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir as an ábhar seo a ardú. I thank the Senator not just for raising the issue but for the rich history she has given us. The Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht implements a range of schemes and initiatives available to communities across Ireland, including Monasterevin. The supports most relevant to today are those offered under my Department's rural development investment programme. This programme has seen unprecedented growth in funding in recent years and I have had the privilege, as Minister, of seeing at first hand the real impact it is making across the country. Support is available to local authorities and other organisations in a wide range of areas, including: the refurbishment and development of community centres; provision of community recreational facilities; support for the purchase and redevelopment of vacant and derelict buildings in our rural towns and villages; the strengthening of the network of trails and walkways, which are such an asset; and the regeneration of towns and villages and the regeneration of buildings that may be in local authority ownership or community ownership, for use.

In developing this range of interventions, my Department has devoted significant time and effort to develop and to maintain our professional working relationships with local authorities. This is because the local authorities in the main, lead the development and implementation of our projects on the ground. I am very happy to say that my Department has worked very well with Kildare County Council on an ongoing basis in recent years across a range of projects. Most recently, I was delighted to be able to announce support under the town and village renewal scheme. Among the 116 projects sharing in the funding allocation were projects in Clane and Athgarvan. In October, I was delighted to announce over €20 million in support for 30 projects under category 2 of the rural regeneration and development fund. Category 2 funding is designed to support applicants such as county councils to ensure that detailed planning and preparation is in place to support the successful delivery of large-scale capital projects. I was delighted be able to make that announcement in Athy, at the Shackleton centre. I am happy to note that the announcement includes an allocation of over €160,000 for Kildare County Council to support the Monasterevin town square regeneration projects. My officials continue to work closely with colleagues in Kildare County Council towards delivering on our shared ambition for rural Ireland and for Kildare.

All of these investments are framed within the context of the Government's national rural development policy, Our Rural Future. The current policy ran from 2021 to 2025. It saw impactful and important improvements delivered across Government in areas such as digital connectivity, rural transport, support for rural enterprises and the development and support of the types of amenities and facilities that Senator O'Loughlin has raised here today.

In keeping with our commitment in the programme for Government, work is now well advanced on the drafting of a new our rural future policy, which will cover the period to 2031. I remain committed to working with Senator O'Loughlin and all colleagues in this House to ensure that we will continue to build a more vibrant and sustainable future for rural communities across Ireland, Kildare and in Monasterevin.

I thank the Minister for his response. We were delighted to welcome him to Athy to the Shackleton Experience, which I know he found enthralling. It is fantastic and I would recommend everybody to come to visit it. Of course the Monasterevin town square regeneration project funding was very much welcomed, along with the funding allocations for Clane and Athgarvan.

I want to come back briefly to Moore Abbey. I believe this would be a vital regenerative source for the public in Monasterevin and would bring new life and new opportunities for people in the town with the public having access to it. This really is a jewel in the crown for Monasterevin and for County Kildare. The model of how we support people with intellectual disabilities has changed and the Muiríosa Foundation now has its administrative centre there.

However, I believe that it would and could be open to the suggestion of sharing this fabulous space with the public. I hope there will be an opportunity down the line but I would like to know whether the Minister would be open to something like this if it came to him.

There is no doubt that there is huge potential for projects such as the one the Senator referenced. They will provide services and supports that not only sustain communities in County Kildare and throughout the country, but also develop them and allow communities to enjoy the facilities that are there. We support projects across the Government to help with not just housing requirements, but also community requirements, and to help develop the sporting and recreational facilities that are used by people every day to maintain and enrich our cultural heritage. The project the Senator speaks about sounds like a fantastic opportunity to mix all of those ambitions.

My Department and my colleagues across the Government are committed to making sure that the required supports are in place to ensure that rural communities are in a position to grow and thrive. We were delighted to be able to secure from our colleague, the Minister, Jack Chambers, a sum of €611 million in budget 2026. That will allow us to make further calls for applications to local authorities under schemes such as the rural regeneration and development fund, RRDF, CLÁR and the community centres investment fund.

As always, there are a range of opportunities open to local authorities from within our Department to assist in the development of projects and I look forward to taking up the Senator's invitation to visit County Kildare once again and experience her wonderful hospitality. We will include Monasterevin on our trip.