With the permission of the House, I will give a minute of my time to Senator Gallagher.

Is that agreed? Agreed.

I congratulate the local volunteers involved in Croílar na nDrumlíní and thank them for their work. They are involved in trying to get a resource house for Cootehill. Notable among them are Dr. Fiona O Hé and Ms Kerry Mullen. I thank them for their work. I also thank my colleague Councillor Carmel Brady for her advocacy in this area. She contacted me about the matter as late as yesterday. I grew up in the Cootehill area. I spent a lot of my youth there and I went to school there. As a result, I have a passionate interest in this matter. I welcome the Minister of State.

When the group to which I refer got together to do this, it developed a target area or an operational area for the resource house to serve - basically, a natural community area. The group carried out research and found a number of things. It found that there was a deprivation score as low as 29.54 in the area.

Technical people will know what that means. One third of the population has primary education only. At the time of research, less than 9% had third level education. It has the oldest age profile of any settlement larger than 500 in the country. That is a very specific issue. I am saddened to say that child welfare referrals and substance abuse are at the highest level in Cavan and Monaghan in the area of Cootehill. Suicide rates are double those in other areas. The housing assistance payment, HAP, in the private rental sector is very strong. That is the need that is there for our family resource house. There is Hub Muinchille on a site there. It is a little group doing volunteer family support work and social inclusion work inasmuch as it can.

In 2019, the group in question got a survey done with LEADER funding. In that survey, five things were established. First, there was a lack of investment in community resources in Cootehill. Second, there was a lack of feeling accepted and respected in their own community. People felt that they were not getting their fair share of things. Third, not being able to access needed services was a real issue for people. This is empirical research. Fourth, there was a lack of support networks to help them with their problems and difficulties. Fifth, there was an absence of ability to feel safe in the community. All of that is quite distressing.

A number of other things are important. There is an available and suitable premises in the Hub Muinchille in what was the Bank of Ireland building there. It is a suitable legal entity. There is support from all the relevant agencies, including the children and young people’s services committee, CYPSC, Cavan County Council and Cavan County Local Development, CCLD. There is cross-community support. A drop-in centre that supported people in getting what they needed is very necessary in Cootehill and would serve a great purpose.

The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. I thank my learned colleague, Senator Joe O'Reilly, for sharing his time on this very important issue for the people of Cootehill. I thank Dr. Fiona O'Hanlon, Claire and Ms Kerry Mullen for their great work in Croílár na Drumlíní in Cootehill. They do an awful lot of volunteer work. They do excellent work for people of Cootehill and, indeed, the wider area. The one thing they are missing is a family resource centre base. They were disappointed the last time out when they were not successful. We are hopeful again that a new stream of funding will be made available in the budget later on in the year when they will have an opportunity to go again.

We are fortunate to have a very successful family resource in Monaghan in Teach na nDaoine, one in Clones, one in Cavan town and one in Killashandra. I gladly report that one is on its way to Carrickmacross.

As outlined by my colleague, the need is very much there. We sincerely hope that they will be successful next time around. We had a very successful meeting today with the Minister, Deputy Foley, where we outlined the case. They did an excellent job of doing so. I am delighted to hear the Minister of State's response this afternoon.

I thank Senator O'Reilly for raising this issue, which I know is very close to his heart as a man from Cootehill. This is something that he sees on the ground day in and day out and he fully understands the need here. It is great to see such cross-party co-operation in the interests of local democracy and shared local community. I thank Senator Gallagher for his comments on the matter.

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister, Norma Foley. She informed me earlier today that she had met both Senators and the fantastic volunteers involved in this fantastic local initiative. It is great to hear that Councillor Carmel Brady is involved in the campaign.

Senator O'Reilly put it very well when he spoke about the deprivation index of the area and how great a need there was. The survey results that have been gone through are backing up what the Senator said. It is encouraging to hear about a suitable venue and support on the ground from local agencies.

In terms of the expansion of the family resource centre programme, this is the latest in a number of very positive developments for the programme over the last few years. There is a programme for Government commitment to increase funding and to expand the capacity and network of family resource centres. This year's budget honours that commitment, with funding secured for a further ten family resource centres. This will bring the family resource centre membership up to 136 this year. That expansion follows the increase in the programme by five members last year, when funding was secured as part of the 2025 budget. This was the first such expansion since 2018. The programme expanded by five last year and 15 this year.

The commissioning of new family resource centres is an operational matter for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. It is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the family resource centre programme. To be clear, neither the Minister nor the Department have had any involvement in the assessment process for new members of the family resource centre programme or in selecting new programme members, and therefore cannot comment on any particular application.

A comprehensive national application and assessment process was undertaken in 2025, which was led by Tusla and independently chaired by a representative of the University of Limerick. All applications were reviewed and scored against clearly defined and published criteria, including population need, level of deprivation, child population data, existing service provision and existing service gaps. Decisions on the successful services were made by the assessment panel. This process was outlined in the Tusla outcome letters that issued to all applicants. A total of 49 organisations applied for membership of the family resource centre programme, following an open call from Tusla for applications to join the programme. This shows a strong level of interest in communities around the country in having family resource centres as part of their community infrastructure.

I understand that Tusla was very impressed with the level of interest in joining the programme, and with the quality of the applications received. Regrettably, funding only allowed for 15 new members to be selected from the 49 organisations that applied, leaving 34 applications unsuccessful. I thank those organisations for their interest in joining the programme and for the important work they continue to do day in and day out.

The benefits of community-based services such as family resource centres cannot be overstated. Many of us will have witnessed first-hand the impacts that family resource centres have on the communities they operate in and the communities and families they support. They engage with vulnerable families, offer services to individuals across the whole life cycle from early years to senior citizens and, crucially, foster a positive and inclusive community spirit. The range of services they provide can be extensive, determined by the needs of the relevant communities. It is particularly important to note that many services are delivered at no cost or low cost to families, who otherwise might not be able to access them. Also, by availing of funding schemes operated by other Government Departments and agencies, there is great potential for family resource centres to grow their scope and reach, and further embed themselves in their communities, and that is what we wish to do in government.

I thank the Minister of State for acknowledging that I have been discussing this issue with her personally and writing to her on this subject over some time. I also appreciate her acknowledgement of the need in this regard. In the minute I have, I want to say to the Minister of State that I would like to hear a concluding remark from her to say that the real need that is in Cootehill will be brought to the decision-making table on the next occasion.

Let us assume the funding will be there, because if it is not, then the Minister of State cannot do it. I cannot see that this real, crying need in Cootehill could be rivalled elsewhere. The need for a family resource centre is there. It would be a place where people could drop in, get a form filled, get counselling, chat and find companionship. It will be just what it is called: a resource house for the community, and a home-from-home where people can pop in. The proposed site is very well situated in the centre of the town. It is a very fine building. This would be exciting for Cootehill, and I would be delighted to invite the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Foley, down for the day, if the Minister of State can give me the commitment.

I thank Senator O'Reilly for his fantastic advocacy on this issue, which I know is so important to him and his constituents. The next step is to make sure we can secure funding for the continued expansion of this scheme. The step after that would be for Cootehill, and others in this boat, to apply for any such new scheme that may come in. I suppose the exact same requirements will be looked at.

I reiterate that it is a comprehensive national application and assessment process.

It is led by Tusla and is independently verified and independently chaired. Applications are reviewed and scored against clearly defined and already published criteria. Population need, level of deprivation, child population data, existing service provision and existing service gaps are all part of that picture. The Senator clearly outlined that he feels Cootehill absolutely fits those criteria. Unfortunately, there may be plenty of other places that fit those criteria, so it is important the next application deals in particular with those-----

I do not think Cootehill will be rivalled.

I hope the Senator is right.

While no additional funding is available for this year, the Minister intends to continue to pursue the expansion of the programme through the budgetary process in line with the programme for Government. If successful in securing funds for future expansion of the family resource centre programme, a new call for applications will be launched to ensure all existing and newly interested locations can apply. I understand that Tusla, over the coming months, will be in contact with organisations whose applications were unsuccessful as part of this call, and that Tusla intends to engage with any parties interested in applying for potential future open calls for applications. I encourage both Senators to ask people to engage with Tusla on this matter.