As the Minister knows, I am proud to be a rural TD and to come from a rural part of Ireland, representing some of the most vibrant, passionate, dedicated and ambitious communities in this country. There are challenges to being from and living in rural Ireland. The Minister knows that better than most in this House, with the many years of service he has given as a public representative representing a rural constituency with large urban bases. I start by addressing some of the grants and supports available for rural Ireland which the Minister covers in his Department, including CLÁR, LEADER, RRDF, the town and village renewal scheme and the community centre investment fund. The town and village renewal scheme currently has works ongoing in Carrig in the north of my constituency, where a village park is being built. I visited it a number of weeks ago. The Minister, his team and his office were a huge help in getting that project started. The community centre investment fund has been an enormous investment of over €110 million, according to the Minister's speech earlier today. It has seen massive improvements in our community centres, particularly the likes of rural parish halls. It is not just rural funding but is important to that rural parish hall, or to the likes of Ballymackey, which the Minister previously invested in, and Terryglass hall, for which he announced €86,000 last year. There is a challenge in rural Ireland at the moment when it comes to population, services, and the changes of lifestyle, habits and how people work and live, but that is a challenge that we are facing up to as a Government, not shying from. Earlier, the Minister mentioned the interdependence of rural Ireland and urban Ireland, which is a very important point, because it is not about one being against the other. It is not that, as a rural TD, you only represent rural Ireland. I represent urban towns as well and they have different challenges, but the interdependence of Our Rural Future is important and should be recognised. I would like to raise a couple of issues where I see challenges and think we can see some improvements over the next years under this Government. I previously raised the first with the Minister in the Chamber and still think it is important. That is funding for our playgrounds, particularly in our rural villages. There are options like CLÁR and LEADER, but there is no specific scheme for playgrounds, which is a challenge for many communities, particularly Cloughjordan and Silvermines in north Tipperary. The price of building a good, fit-for-purpose, modern playground is high and is increasing. While there are some grant supports, we need to look at where we get a purposeful grant for playgrounds. When there is a community and a committee that is really dedicated to getting one in, when the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle is that grant, there is space for us to do a little more. I again mention to the Minister the community cafés and shops, which he will be very familiar with, through the hard work and dedication of Leonie Maher and Mary Fogarty in Loughmore. To give a synopsis of the community cafés and shops in my constituency, we have Lorrha, Cloughjordan, Moneygall, Loughmore, Moyne, Ballingarry, Annacarty, Freshford and Muckalee. They are not all in my constituency, but they are all very important to the people in my constituency. They are a vital social and community outlet. I know the Minister has been working hard with that national body and with me. I appreciate the time and attention the Minister has given to them to date.

Sentiment score: 0.32