Fianna Fáil Councillor, John Paul Feeley has welcomed the provision of €50,000 funding to complete work at the carpark on Miltown NS.
‘Having worked very closely with Keith Conefrey Principal and the School Board of Management I know the work to be done will be very useful, improving safety for those accessing the school and segregating vehicles and pedestrians.’
Noting that only six of the fifteen projects submitted by Cavan County Council to the Department of Rural Affairs Councillor Feeley stated that CLÀR funding is substantially down in 2019 over last year.
‘Almost fifty projects were submitted in 2019 to Cavan County Council who has to narrow it down to a maximum of fifteen for submission to the Department. Therefore Council officials familiar with the projects and aware of local need had already vetted this projects in a way that the Department could not.’
‘It is a huge disappointment for those projects that had got over the high bar set by the Council and which now have received no funding in 2019. Furthermore only one project was approved in the entire Cavan/Belturbet Electoral Area which is a massive disappointment. It would make one wonder as to what criteria is actually used in the Department.’
Finally, Councillor Feeley noted that normally CLÀR funding is announced in the early part of the summer to allow schools get work done during the summer holidays.
‘The announcement is months late. It is a a major challenge for the schools involved to get the work done when children are running around the playground and parents and buses bringing children to and from the schools involved.’
‘The late funding the cut in funding in 2019 would indicated that the same level of interest is not there from Government and perhaps Minister Ring and his colleagues are punishing Rural Ireland for the poor showing of Fine Gael in the Local Elections earlier this year.’
‘Last year a second round of funding assisted two projects over the initial thirteen announced by the Department. I call on Minister Ring and his Government colleagues to look again at CLÀR funding in 2019 and make a substantially better allocation to much needed projects in Rural Ireland.’
‘Either way the good work done by the unsuccessful applicants must head the queue for future funding.’
ENDS
John Paul Feeley
Fianna Fáil Member of Cavan County Council
