Dara Calleary

We want to try to promote enterprises and improve and promote the attractiveness of rural areas so we have developed the specific outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme. This is one of the schemes for enhancing the attractiveness of trails and of visitor attractions that in turn make a rural area more attractive or more feasible for hotel investment. Since 2020, we have invested €110 million in …

I agree with the Deputy. In our engagements with the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment we are looking at how we can maximise it. Deputy McGuinness referred to making an area more attractive as tourism accommodation comes back on stream. I do not see the Department getting involved in investing in commercial hotel projects. I would not like to create an expectation that there will be…

I thank the Deputy for her question and her ongoing interest in this area. In line with commitments in Our Rural Future, my Department supports a wide range of strategic capital investment schemes, ringfenced under the rural development investment programme, to transform rural towns and villages, making them thriving places to live, work, raise families and build enterprises. These schemes include…

I agree with the Deputy. While the primary focus of the rural development scheme is going to remain on rural areas we have funded projects in Fingal and in south Dublin under the outdoor recreation scheme. Under the town and village scheme in Fingal, we were able to fund the development of new walking and cycling facilities and associated streetscape enhancement measures. In Balrothery, Donabate,…

The more the Deputy can engage under town centre first principles, the stronger the case, and we will work with her. The Minister of State, as a Deputy in a city constituency with similar villages, is strong on this. Working collectively, we will work with the Deputy, Fingal County Council and our colleagues. If it can be done under the town centre first principles, something we align funding to i…

The rural regeneration and development fund is the major capital investment programme to support large-scale ambitious projects to achieve sustainable economic and social development in rural areas. To date, the fund has allocated over €614 million to 273 projects across the country, which includes over €43 million since 2018 allocated to 27 projects located throughout County Cork. These projects …

I thank the Deputy for that overview. I acknowledge that Cork County Council and the team that deals with our Department's delivery of projects, is one of the stronger performing local authorities. The delivery by our partners on the ground can be a frustration generally in relation to RRDF. It is not in Cork. To that effect, we are engaging with local authorities and delivery bodies around the co…

That is exactly the kind of project we want to do under the RRDF. It is a project that would not have been done previously and for larger towns of 9,000 plus, there is the URDF and its successor scheme. It is important that project is done in conjunction with the community and that there is community engagement in it. One of our challenges with projects such as this is that sometimes the communiti…

I thank the Deputy for his question. LEADER, as he knows, is a community-led approach to local development that has been operating for just over 35 years. We marked the 35th anniversary of LEADER just last weekend. It was introduced by the EU under the then Commissioner Ray MacSharry. The programme has evolved through successive programming periods and in 2007 it was mainstreamed into the Common A…

I agree with the Deputy. When the Minister of State and I visited Moneygall, the local development company put on a fantastic display. During the ploughing championships last year, it really showcased what LEADER can do across a county and the interventions it can make. On the future of LEADER, we are working, as I said, with the Minister, Deputy Heydon, and his Department. The CAP consultative co…

I do not disagree with the Deputy's analysis. That would be a good investment of EU funds. LEADER is not the only show in town. Since 2020 my Department has allocated in the region of €65 million in funding to Offaly. In 2025 alone we invested €1 million under the LIS, €1.2 million under the town and village renewal scheme, €1.4 million under the community service programme, €420,000 under CLÁR an…

Tá scéim na bhfoghlaimeoirí Gaeilge á riar ag mo Roinn ar mhaithe le tacú le deiseanna sealbhaithe agus saibhrithe teanga sna réigiúin Ghaeltachta do fhoghlaimeoirí, idir scoláirí dara leibhéal, mic léinn tríú leibhéal agus daoine fásta ó áiteanna ar fud na tíre. Tagann an scéim le cuspóirí an Rialtais i leith na Gaeilge, mar atá leagtha amach sa Straitéis 20 Bliain don Ghaeilge 2010-2030, agus is…

Tá sé soiléir ón ardú a bhí ann anuraidh go bhfuilimid dáiríre faoi seo. Táimid dáiríre faoin 29,000 scoláire agus beagnach 530 teaghlach Gaeilge a aithint. Táimid ag obair leis na mná tí agus leis na coláistí. Anuraidh, d'fhógair mé scéim aonuaire do theaghlaigh sheanbhunaithe chun tacú tuilleadh leis an gcostas chun troscán nua a cheannach. Is deontas suas le €2,000, nó 80% den chostas, a bhí i …

Tá tuiscint ag gach cuid den Rialtas ar cé chomh tábhachtach is atá an taithí seo agus cé chomh tábhachtach is atá an Ghaeltacht. Tá an t-ádh linn go bhfuil an tAire caiteachais phoiblí ina iarAire Stáit sa Roinn seo. Tuigeann sé cé chomh tábhachtach is atá sé. Bhí sé sin an-tábhachtach agus muid ag iarraidh buiséad na Roinne a ardú. Ní fiú ardú mór sa bhuiséad muna bhfuil sé á chaitheamh ar an nG…

I thank Deputy Burke for his question. The community centre investment fund, CCIF, was introduced by the former Minister, Heather Humphreys, to provide high-quality community facilities that are available to all groups in both urban and rural communities. Through the CCIF, to date some €111 million has been allocated for the enhancement and refurbishment of existing community centres and the const…

I know from speaking to those involved that one of the motivations behind the approach taken during Heather Humphreys' time in office was the need to help the exact kind of community that Deputy Burke has spoken about. There was massive development back in the seventies and eighties. Perhaps there are three of us in the Chamber who are old enough to remember AnCO. I will not say which three people…

I was out yesterday with Deputy Currie and the Minister, Deputy Chambers, in Castleknock at the community centre to see the work it is doing with community employment and Tús. A community centre is not just a building; it is a hub and a magnet for activity. It is really the heart of activities. That is why we want to support the programme to ensure facilities are improved in existing centres as we…

Did the Deputy write this last week?

Gabhaim buíochas leis an mbeirt Teachta Dála as an ábhar tábhachtach seo a ardú anocht. As Deputies Cullinane and McGuinness set out, the issue relates to a group of former workers who left the service of Waterford Crystal between 1990 and 1992 under a redundancy arrangement. At the time of the redundancy, the workers received a refund of their pension contributions relating to their service in th…

I thank both Deputies. I will again clarify the position. The former employees took refunds of their contributions. They have no pension entitlements. Therefore, they had no entitlement under the mediated settlement. The Pensions Authority has also advised that there has been no breach of the Pensions Act in this case. Some took legal action against the parties. That action was settled. It did not…

No.

I move: That Dáil Éireann approves the following Order in draft: Finance Act 2004 (Section 91) (Deferred Surrender to the Central Fund) Order 2026, copies of which have been laid in draft form before Dáil Éireann on 4th February, 2026.

Tá athas orm, mar Aire Forbartha Tuaithe agus Pobail, agus Gaeltachta, go bhfuil deis agam labhairt inniu i nDáil Éireann, agus muid ag cur tús le Seachtain na Gaeilge 2026. Beidh muid ag ceiliúradh ár dteanga dúchais, ár dtraidisiúin agus ár gcultúr le linn na féile, agus mholfainn do gach duine páirt a ghlacadh, is cuma cén leibhéal líofachta atá acu sa Ghaeilge. Is teanga bheo í an Ghaeilge. Tá…

Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an gCeann Comhairle as a cuid Gaeilge. Tá sí ag éirí níos láidre. Ag cloisteáil na díospóireachta inniu, bhí sé suimiúil go raibh a lán daoine ag gabháil leithscéalta as a gcuid Gaeilge. Níl aon ghá leis sin. Is ceart go n-úsáideann muid í sa Teach seo agus sa Teach eile. Ba cheart go mbeadh muid in ann í a úsáid ar lá ar bith, ní hamháin le linn Sheachtain na Gaeilge. …

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as an gceist thábhachtach seo. According to the latest labour force survey, which was released by the Central Statistics Office, CSO, on 19 February, employment has been increasing for young people, standing at 323,200, which is up 6,000 over the past year. Reflecting this, the youth unemployment rate of 9.8% in quarter 4 of 2025 is lower than a year earlier, when …