Vol. 1053 No. 6
4. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development for an update on the implementation to date of the policy for the islands; if she has received any reports or updates to date from the monitoring committee for the implementation of the policy for the islands; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20765/24]
Baineann mo cheist le polasaí na n-oileáin arís. Tá súil ghéar á choinneáil agam ar an dul chun cinn atá á dhéanamh leis an bpolasaí sin. Thart ag an am seo anuraidh a foilsíodh an polasaí sin.
This time last year came the welcome news that we had the policy for the islands. I am keeping a very close eye on the implementation of that. It is a ten-year policy with rolling three-year action plans. What progress has been made in that regard?
As the Deputy said, I launched Our Living Islands - National Islands Policy 2023-2033 in June last year. Our Living Islands is a substantial document, a ten-year policy backed up by rolling three-year action plans. It has time-bound commitments so Departments and agencies across government can be held to account for its implementation.
Following the publication of the policy, I established a monitoring committee, chaired by my Department, to engage with key Government Departments, agencies and local authorities with regard to the implementation of the action plan. The committee includes representatives of the island communities and representatives of Departments and State bodies which have key roles in the delivery of the policy and action plan. The most recent meeting of the monitoring committee was held in Galway on 6 March. The relevant Departments and agencies provided progress updates at that meeting, particularly in respect of actions with a timeline of quarter 3 or quarter 4 of 2023. Further updates are expected at the next meeting of the monitoring committee, which is scheduled for 23 May.
Some examples of the progress being reported to date under the action plan are as follows: a new search and rescue contract for the Irish Coast Guard, to include services to the islands, has been awarded by the Department of Transport; remedial and upgrade works have been carried out at the airports in Conamara and on each of the Aran Islands, at a total cost of €890,000; face-to-face presentations on road safety education were delivered to 60 transition year students on Árainn Mhór island, Donegal, by the Road Safety Authority; 20 applications have been received to date by local authorities for the Croí Cónaithe grants which provide a 20% top-up for vacant or derelict properties on the islands; and ring-fenced funding for islands is being included in schemes within my Department such as LIS, CLÁR and town and village renewal. For example, in January, I approved €73,000 in CLÁR funding for Inis Mór blue flag beach seating area and over €50,000 for an electric bus on Inis Oírr.
Progress is being made and I will be publishing a full update shortly. The committee is having a meeting shortly. It has to approve the minutes of the last meeting and they will go up on the website.
I welcome the fact there is a monitoring committee and that the islands are represented on it. My difficulty with the monitoring committee is that it is inputting into a report. I would have thought the monitoring committee would carry out the report as a body outside watching the progress. Is it the Department that will carry out the report and the monitoring committee will input into that?
I welcome the progress. I welcome the electric bus on Inis Oírr and the other progress being made, as well as the ring-fenced funding. However, the background is important, as always. Back in 1996, there was a task force and it has taken an eternity to get to having a policy that is not based on legislation. The implementation is extremely important.
If I have time, I will come back to the outstanding issues, such as the Caladh Mór pier on Inis Meáin, the pier on Inis Oírr, the lack of a primary care centre on Inishbofin which, as the Minister knows, has taken forever, and the primary care centre on Árainn Mhór. These are crucial things that were included in the plan.
I had a question disallowed in regard to planning for Gaeltacht islands within the policy. The document, which has several strengths, is weak in terms of planning for the Gaeltacht Islands. The response I received when the question was ruled out of order is that this is the responsibility of the Minister with responsibility for the Gaeltacht, Deputy Catherine Martin. The Minister with responsibility for the Gaeltacht does have responsibility for language planning but, obviously, the challenges facing island Gaeltacht communities are very particular to them and different from the challenges faced by mainland Gaeltacht communities. I had hoped for an opportunity to discuss that further. More needs to be done between the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and the Minister with responsibility for the Gaeltacht. I do not think Our Living Islands properly plans out or has an adequate strategy to ensure they are sustainable communities but also that the language thrives with them. What needs to happen, from the Department of Rural and Community Development's point of view, is community development but, naturally, that community development should, to the greatest extent possible, be through the means of Irish. Greater engagement is needed between the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to plan a specific strategy for those communities.
To go back to Deputy Connolly's question, we have waited a long time for the islands policy. The purpose of the monitoring committee is to ensure that the specific measures in the Our Living Islands policy and its associated action plan are put in place and acted on by the relevant Government Departments and agencies.
The committee has a role to play. If it is not being acted upon, that will obviously be highlighted. The reports were prepared by the officials, but the monitoring committee is there to oversee it and make sure that the things that are not happening are acted upon and highlighted. The committee has a very important role, and I will be watching closely what it is doing.
On my Department's funding schemes, there has been a great deal of dedicated funding for the islands. I announced the LIS last week. There was huge investment across the country. There is dedicated funding in that allocation which has to be spent on the islands. One of the things the islanders said to me was that when the local authority gets the LIS, it spends it all on the mainland and does not have any left for the islands. Ring-fenced money is now in place. They never got a look-in before, so the money has to be spent on the islands. That is just one example. As the Deputy is aware, I am doing many other things. I take on board the urgency of this matter. There is no doubt about that.
The Minister takes a hands-on approach, and I welcome that. I have always said that. With regard to the islands policy, it was dragged out, was it not? Eventually we got it. It is not based on legislation. It includes timescales and objectives that must be adhered to.
I have only less than 40 seconds left. I repeat that the matter relating to Caladh Mór pier has been going on for 20 years. I do not expect the Minister to provide an answer in that regard because it is a very specific issue. Then we have Inis Oírr, which is coming up later. I understand that Caladh Mór has moved on to a preliminary business case. If you look at the background, however, you can see that has taken 20-plus years. We are barely moving on to phase 3. It is the same with the other one.
The primary care centres are the most basic unit with regard to health. They take the pressure off the hospitals. The transfer of land has been going on forever. I keep asking separate questions about the transfer of land from one Department to another and on to the HSE and about putting in place a primary care centre on Inishbofin. The one on Árainn Mhór is not being mentioned at all.
I understand people's frustration. I have pushed this on as much as I possibly can. I am absolutely committed to supporting our islands. I will get an update on Caladh Mór for the Deputy. There will be a question about the matter later. Progress is definitely being made on Inis Oírr and Inis Meáin. I have been out there and am aware of the need for investment in the piers.
Roads were a big issue initially. I think I have managed to make good progress on the roads. Remote working has been a game-changer for some of the islands. For example, on Clare Island, they are doing great work in the context of ehealth. I was in Chicago for St. Patrick's Day and I visited the Cisco headquarters there. I met a fellow from Clare Island and he was talking about all the great things they are doing there with regard to high-speed broadband and ehealth. Islands can embrace new technology.
On Deputy Ó Laoghaire's question, we engage with the Minister for the Gaeltacht and the Department regarding the importance of the Irish language on our islands and the need to support it. I did not see the question, but I will have a look at it again. I may be the able to get the Deputy a written response.
5. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if her Department is taking any action regarding obstacles that can arise in carrying out projects under the local improvements scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20905/24]
7. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will significantly increase the allocation from her Department to the local improvement scheme. [20838/24]
9. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if her Department has received any request for drawdown of funds in respect of local improvement scheme works not completed in 2023 from any local authority; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20731/24]
28. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she is concerned with the broad variance of outcomes in terms of numbers of roads completed per funding per local authority under the local improvement scheme; if she will consider measures to examine whether local authorities are achieving value for money with the funding provided by her Department; if she will specifically examine how Mayo County Council can have completed 549 road improvements since 2017 with just marginally more funding than Kerry County Council, where just 196 roads were completed in the same period; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20867/24]
41. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the total amount of funding made available for the LIS since her Department was established in 2017; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20892/24]
In the context of the LIS, I welcome last week's announcement. I am raising this matter to tease out the matter of the amount of funding that was allocated and also the change to the criteria. I would welcome some clarification from the Minister on that. Where one person on a lane refuses point-blank to participate - either financially or even to sign the form to let others do it - is there any way to get around that?
I propose to take questions Nos. 5, 7, 9, 28 and 41 together.
The LIS supports the improvement of rural roads and laneways that are not normally maintained by the local authorities. I am acutely aware of the importance of the scheme to rural landowners and residents. That is why, as part of Our Rural Future, the Government is committed to ensuring that the LIS is funded into the future.
The scheme was reintroduced by my Department in 2017 following a number of years with no dedicated funding. Between 2017 and 2024, my Department has allocated almost €170 million to local authorities under the scheme. This has been used to upgrade, up to the end of 2023, over 4,000 non-public roads and lanes, which has benefited almost 20,000 landowners and residents in rural areas. I have ensured that the base funding for the scheme has increased year on year in recent years. I have also prioritised the scheme for additional funding where savings have emerged in my Department as the year has progressed.
I am happy to confirm that I have also secured additional once-off funding for the scheme this year. On foot of this, I recently announced €40 million in funding to cover work under the scheme across 2024 and 2025. This demonstrates my commitment to ensuring that improvement and upgrade works continue on eligible roads under the terms of the scheme. The announcement of the funding for both 2024 and 2025 will also allow local authorities to plan more effectively for work to be carried out in the medium term, thus facilitating better delivery on the ground.
While my Department provides funding for the scheme, it is administered by the local authorities. The latter are also responsible for the selection and prioritisation of roads. It is a matter for each local authority to determine eligible roads for inclusion under the scheme criteria in any given year, and to decide whether or not to open the scheme to new applicants or to focus on existing lists. I am aware of the importance of the works funded under the scheme across the country and of some of the obstacles that local authorities can encounter. With this in mind, my officials engage with local authorities on an ongoing basis regarding the scheme and work to address any issues as they arise.
In designing the scheme for this year, I have some important changes to the eligibility criteria following feedback received from various stakeholders. Local authorities are now in the process of submitting their lists of priority roads eligible under the terms of this year's scheme for approval. Once approval has been granted, local authorities will have until November to complete works and draw down their 2024 funding. As I said, my Department officials will, as always, work closely with each local authority to ensure funding is fully utilised. Local authorities can then submit their 2025 priority lists in January to ensure that as much time as possible is allowed for the completion of works.
On the question posed by Deputy Moynihan, drawdown of funds under the LIS is based on completed works and eligible expenditure per the terms of the scheme. My Department did not receive any requests from local authorities for drawdown of funds in respect of local improvement scheme works not completed in 2023. Funds under the scheme are only released to local authorities upon receipt of fully-completed documentation, which includes a list of completed roads.
Within my Department, the operation of the scheme is reviewed each year. The process for allocating funding is thoroughly examined to ensure that funds are distributed in such a way as to ensure that local authorities fully utilise their allocations to complete repair works on as many eligible roads as possible. As already stated, local authorities are - in my view, quite rightly - responsible for administering this scheme on the basis of local need. The scheme outline provides guidance to local authorities regarding the selection and prioritisation of roads in an effort to ensure a consistent and uniform approach by all local authorities.
Projects that most require attention should be prioritised and consideration should also be given to other factors such as the condition of the road, the number of beneficiaries, how many parcels of land are served, accessibility issues and estimated costs. The condition of roads varies from county to county, and this is one of the range of factors that may account for disparities between counties. Other factors include the geographic location and terrain of particular roads, and the availability of contractors and suppliers to underpin delivery. It is also of note that local authorities are required under the terms of the scheme to abide by the relevant procurement rules and procedures. The scheme also includes a rule that no individual road project which exceeds 20% of the total annual allocation to a local authority can be approved.
Following the recent announcement of funding, each local authority has been advised of its allocation across 2024 and 2025, including those in receipt of a separate allocation for works specifically on our offshore inhabited islands.
I have again included an additional ring-fenced allocation for works to be carried out on eligible roads on offshore islands.
I reiterate my commitment to ensuring this important scheme is funded into the future. As the Deputies will be aware, I have made a number of requests for co-funding to be provided by my colleague the Minister for Transport, and I will continue to pursue those requests. I am confident that my Department will continue to work in close co-operation with the local authorities to ensure that the LIS delivers important benefits across rural Ireland in an efficient and effective manner.
I thank the Minister for that comprehensive reply. Nobody can doubt her commitment to rural Ireland, that is for sure. I have a few questions I ask her to clarify. The funding that was announced covers 2024 and 2025, but it specifies exactly how much can be spent in each of those years. The requirement to have two herds has been reduced to one herd, but it also says that there must be a second parcel of land. It recommends that the second parcel of land must be a minimum of 1 ha. Is that a requirement or a recommendation?
I refer to a scenario in which one landowner who is affected by a scheme point blank refuses to participate. There is an option for someone to refuse to financially participate, but there is a requirement that they give their permission. What happens in a scenario such as that where one person holds up a scheme that would benefit multiple landowners? Can the Minister confirm if she has plans to tackle that?
I thank the Minister for taking these questions. The LIS is extremely important to rural areas, as she well knows. In County Clare, 172 applications have been approved. Clare County Council estimates that even though these are approved applicants, it will take eight to nine years to fulfil them on the basis of the current funding model. As Deputies, we receive announcements. We received one a couple of weeks ago. I thought it was brilliant that we were getting extra funding. When I read through the email, however, I saw that the funding would be across two years. Last year, Clare County Council got €1.3 million for one calendar year. Now, it is getting €2 million for two calendar years. The Minister referred to the 2024-25 period. Is this for two full calendar years or is it akin to a sporting season where one year runs into the other? If this is the current funding model, it will set us further back. It will mean that people in Clare will be waiting for more than a decade to get their roads done. The funding falls well short of what is needed in County Clare.
I thank the Minister for her response. I want to raise with her a matter that Tommy Griffin, our candidate in the Corca Dhuibhne electoral area, raised with me. He did a detailed analysis of the LIS figures per county per annum. He established that the council in Mayo, which has marginally more finance, has done 549 roads since 2018. Kerry received slightly less funding, but it was still only able to do 194. Unless the roads in Mayo are way shorter and narrower than those in Kerry, there seems to be something wrong. Will the Minister look at the massive variation between the number of roads that are resurfaced by local authorities for the same money? It does not add up that the average cost per road in Mayo is approximately €17,000 and that it is almost four times that amount in Kerry and other counties. Other counties have done very well in displaying efficiency ,so there must be something wrong. I wonder if every local authority is getting value for money.
I also want to raise the need for additional funding for the LIS in County Clare. There are a number of live applications, but the local authority has advised that it does not have the necessary funding to include a number of them on the roads programme for this year. I recently raised the case of an area of where people cannot even get deliveries of food or heating oil to their homes. Also, a brand-new car was bought in the locality and has been severely damaged. I welcome the recent announcement of additional funding, but the members of Clare County Council have advised that the sum could be quadrupled to approximately €13.5 million. That is a shortfall. In areas like west Clare, which has the highest number of applications in the county so far, it is really impacting rural living.
I was reared in a lane that is nearly a mile long. I know all about these lanes, and I have to say that nobody has been more committed to providing LIS funding than me. At the end of each year, if I had any extra money I lorried it into the LIS because I know how important the latter is to support people who live in rural Ireland. Since 2017, €170 million has been invested in the LIS.
A few questions were raised. Basically, the new rules mean there must be one farm or one house. I do know where the issue of the hectare, which Deputy Troy raised, comes in there. I will have to check that and come back to him. Regarding the issue of the a landowner who will not sign up, I honestly do not know what I can do. Maybe the officials in the local authority should speak to my officials to see if we can do something about that. With the new criteria, does he have to give permission? I do not know. It is a specific case.
Regarding Clare, which Deputies Crowe and Wynne raised, the council should spend this money. It has its allocation. When that is spent, I ask that the council come back to me. If I have any extra money, I assure the Deputies I will put it into the LIS. However, I want to give a bit of certainty by rolling it out over the two years. The Deputies and I know that local authorities love that. When it comes to doing the roads, there is a big panic at the end of the year because the weather might not be the right. Yet, they now know what they have. If more is needed and if any money is left over at the end of the year, I will allocate it to the LIS. I will keep it under review over the year because I know how important this scheme is and I am happy to support it in every way I can.
In reply to Deputy Griffin, I do not understand why Kerry cannot do as many roads as Mayo. I suggest that the officials in Kerry County Council give their counterparts in Mayo a call because it seems to me that they cannot do as many roads. I was speaking with a county manager at one stage. That person referred to using recycled tar - I am referring to the scrapings that come off the roads - to bring down the cost, and this could be used in the context of the LIS. I do not know if that is being done by any of the local authorities, but we should be looking at those types of ideas because we might get more lanes completed.
I could paper the walls with the letters I receive and send. I have sent a right number letters to the Minister for Transport. If he matched my money, we would be flying and would get rid of all the lists.
To be fair, the Minister has been very strong in this area. I take this opportunity to acknowledge that. All money that is allocated to Westmeath will be spent. I can confirm that. I welcome that the Minister will come back to clarify the position, but I spoke to the official in Westmeath who runs the scheme. It does say that even though they are reducing their requirements for herd numbers, it is recommended that there is a second parcel of land, which must be a minimum of 1 ha. It is a recommendation, not a requirement. As a result, it is a grey area. If the Minister could bring clarity to that I would welcome it.
There is the fact that the criteria changed when the Minister announced the new funding. Is the Minister asking the councils to go out and open that up again? I ask because some councils, such as that in Westmeath, had their lists ready. Clearly, however, they would have excluded some people before the criteria changed. Is there now a requirement to include those criteria?
While I did mention a specific case in Westmeath where one landowner prevented work from going ahead, this is something that could happen across the country. There is a requirement that all people who would benefit must sign the form. If someone refuses to sign the form, that puts other people at a disadvantage. This is something the Minister needs to look at in terms of changing the criteria. It is not fair that one landowner can hold up work that would be to the benefit of multiple landowners.
I thank the Minister for her engagement and for her answer. I have looked at the funding for last year and this year. Many counties have gained. Clare could be unique - I accept that there may be more counties involved - because it has seen a diminution in funding. I am a Government backbencher. Across nearly all funding streams I can think of - including sports capital funding, the announcement of which happened last night - moneys are increasing by most metrics. I do not know if this was an oversight because most counties have done extremely well.
I would love if the departmental officials could look back at Clare. It looks like a great deal of money is going to Clare. When it is spread across two years, however, it boils down to a reduction.
I wish to make a constructive suggestion about the timing of these announcements. They come out at the end of April or early May when the council is flat out with its summer road works problem. A councillor suggested to me that it would be wonderful if this could be announced late in the winter or very early in the spring in order that it could be factored into roadworks. Many local authorities find themselves under pressure in autumn and early winter to complete the works they are planning to do. That money needs to be topped up for County Clare. I hope the Minister can could look at it again.
I welcome the recent allocation of funding nationwide. I particularly welcome the funding for Kerry because is very badly needed. I again call on the Minister, Deputy Ryan, if he is watching, to put some money on the table for the LIS from his Department's budget. He has plenty of money in that budget.
I wish to emphasise some of the figures that Tommy Griffin gave me. I think this matter warrants further scrutiny by the Minister. In the past four years in Kerry, 73 roads were completed for €4.9 million. The average cost per road was €67,256. In the same four years in County Mayo, 242 roads were completed for €4.3 million. The average cost was only €17,656 per road. This matter needs to be examined. The national average cost is about half of the average cost per road in Kerry. Some counties are performing very well. Mayo is performing extremely well compared with Kerry. We need to bear in mind that we have over 600 roads waiting for improvement. If Kerry County Council is only doing only 73 roads in four years for €4.9 million, there is something radically wrong. The departmental officials need to talk to the people in Kerry County Council and bring them on a fact-finding mission to Mayo because these roads need to be improved.
I thank the Deputies for their contributions. I will ask the officials to speak to Kerry County Council. There is a big difference in the average cost of the of the lanes. Are there longer lanes in Kerry? That is the only thing I do not know.
They would want to be very long.
They seem to be doing fewer of them. We should look at the number of kilometres that are covered. That would probably be a good indication. I am happy to engage. I have reviewed the criteria.
I will come back to Deputy Troy on the part about the second parcel of land needing to be a minimum of 1 ha. I am not sure; I am not across the finer details. We leave it up to the discretion of the local authorities. I take his point. Does it need everybody living on the lane? Does it still qualify without this person who will not sign? I do not know but my gut feeling would be that they go ahead and improve their lane. I will talk to the officials about that. I will ask Westmeath County Council to engage with my departmental officials on those details. Ultimately, I want to help people and that is why I changed the criteria.
I left it up to local authorities to review the applications that did not qualify if they so desired. I am aware of some people who discovered that they did not qualify on the basis of the old criteria, and now they do qualify. They have been told that they need to go to the bottom of the list. The fact that they were on the list for many years should be taken into consideration. The local authorities have a bit of flexibility in what they do. We have to leave it with them. From 2017 up to the end of 2025, Clare will have receive €8.3 million in funding for the roads. That is well in excess of Westmeath, which will get €4.6 million. Mayo will get €10.7 million, Kerry will get €10.3 million and Cork, which is a big county, will get €12.5 million.
It is a reduction on last year.
I will tell the Deputy what happened last year. We sent a call out to local authorities to tell us what they could spend and to put in the amount. Some local authorities told us they could not spend any money. I am not saying that is the case with Clare. Some local authorities were very ambitious in their spend. They got it spent and got their lanes completed. Some local authorities did not think they would be able to do as much. Therefore, they did not get as much because they did not ask for as much. I gave them all 70% of what they were looking for. I am not sure if that is the case in Clare. I will check it out.
6. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development what efforts are being made by her Department to ensure that local authorities are enforcing the legislation in relation to collecting fines under dog control regulations. [20942/24]
I wish to ask about the control of dogs legislation. Dogs are a regular feature in Irish life and bring considerable happiness and enjoyment to many people. Unfortunately, there are many irresponsible dog owners and they cause great problems to livestock in particular, but also in many instances to humans. Dog attacks on livestock are quite frequent but despite this some local authorities failed to issue fines over the past four years. This matter requires greater attention.
My Department has policy responsibility for the Control of Dogs Acts and local authorities have responsibility for all operational matters, including enforcement. The Control of Dogs Acts set out a number of legal obligations that all dog owners must comply with. I am committed to improving outcomes in dog control in Ireland and in this context, I recently increased on-the-spot fines for offences under the Control of Dogs Act, including trebling the fines for most serious offences from €100 to €300. Multiple fines can be issued where more than one offence occurs.
It is important for dog owners to be aware of their responsibilities, not just to the general public but also to their dogs. For this reason, I have just launched a major national awareness campaign to alert dog owners to their responsibilities and to raise awareness of the dangers that can be posed by uncontrolled dogs. In addition, I have established a high-level stakeholder group to consider and make recommendations to strengthen policy on these issues. I appointed John Twomey as chair of the stakeholder group, which comprises members with a broad range of expertise including academics, veterinary surgeons, local authorities, farming interests, charities working in the field and animal welfare experts. The first meeting of this group took place recently.
My Department has no role in the issuing of fixed-penalty notices but I believe dog wardens are well placed to detect and deal with offences under the Acts. To support the work of the wardens my Department is partly funding a national training programme for dog wardens to ensure consistency and a standardised approach to enforcement. This training commenced in April.
I should have added that in several instances where there are issues with irresponsible owners, the dogs themselves are the victims. The maltreatment of dogs is a significant issue.
Over the past two years, there were 240 dog attacks on livestock, 180 on other animals and 430 attacks on people across the State. Those are quite substantial numbers. Some local authorities failed to issue any fines in the last four years. I welcome the training is part of it. I do not believe we have enough dog wardens, with only one for every 3,000 dogs. I know the Minister is not responsible for the recruitment of dog wardens, but it is an issue all the same. It comes back to the point about the review. The application of the Control of Dogs Acts varies greatly from local authority to local authority. The Minister mentioned the review group chaired by John Twomey, who, I presume, is the former deputy Garda commissioner. When will that review group report back to the Minister? Will that result in changes to legislation or is it more likely to be operational?
The stakeholder group is chaired by John Twomey the former deputy Garda commissioner. That shows how seriously I am taking this matter from the point of view of enforcement. The stakeholder group has a broad and diverse range of viewpoints. One member is a representative of Dogs Trust, which does excellent work. They bring important experience of what they see from an animal welfare point of view. Farming interests are also represented on the group. The Deputy mentioned livestock. It is not nice to see livestock being attacked by dogs. I expect they will talk about their experiences of livestock attacks. We have to strike a balance here. We all love our dogs but we have responsibility to the public to look after them properly. We need to keep dogs under proper control in order that they do not hurt anybody.
That is why the public campaign we have under way at the minute, which the Deputy may have heard on the radio, clearly says to people it is not their dog's fault but theirs. That is very clear. People have a responsibility to take care of their dogs and to keep them under control.
I welcome that and I have heard some pieces on this issue. As the Minister says, it is a very significant issue in terms of livestock and it obviously has a huge impact on livelihoods. No farmer wants to see their livestock attacked. Of course, we have also seen some very serious attacks on people, including children, in recent years. There have been some fairly horrifying attacks. As the Minister says, the ultimate responsibility lies with the owner but it does not seem to be the case that the legislation is always being applied. The Minister has outlined the stakeholder group. I welcome that. I recall John Twomey from various Oireachtas committee meetings and he seems a very capable person to be in charge of it. What is the timeline on this? Putting together a stakeholder group is grand but when are we going to see the output from it and what will be the outcome of it?
The stakeholder group has had an initial meeting and a follow-up meeting as well. The members are looking at a number of issues. I am happy to hear what their views are. It is a diverse group and I will take on board the recommendations they put forward to me.
Going back to the dog wardens, I have given more funding - an extra €2 million - to local authorities to upgrade the dog shelters and buy more dog warden vehicles and such things. Staffing of the dog wardens is for the local authorities themselves. I have spoken to the Minister, Darragh O'Brien, about more dog wardens and he is looking at providing increased staffing resources to the local authorities so they can increase the number of dog wardens on the ground.
No matter what we do, the dog warden cannot be everywhere. We have a personal responsibility to look after our dog and to know where it is at all times. The Deputy mentioned children. It was desperate what happened to that young lad in Wexford. It really was horrific. That sort of behaviour by those dog owners is wrong. They should keep their dogs under control. We need to have responsible breeding practices as well. I do not understand why people want to breed dogs that are vicious. It is not Jurassic Park here. People should not need to breed dogs just for the sole purpose of making them as vicious as possible. As I said before, these dogs are just fashion statements for criminals. This is something about which I will be asking the new stakeholder group to consider what we should do because it is something that causes a lot of upset and annoyance, especially in communities.
8. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if consideration would be given for larger local authorities such as Cork County Council to make additional submissions to the town and village renewal scheme to account for the larger population; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20404/24]
18. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development for an update on her Department’s plans to address dereliction and vacancy in rural towns and villages; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20943/24]
43. Deputy Alan Farrell asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development for an update on her Department's efforts to bring more vacant buildings into use in towns and villages; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20571/24]
44. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development how Carlow is benefiting from the 2023 town and village renewal scheme. [20607/24]
Question No. 8 is in the name of Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan but it is grouped with one of Deputy Ó Laoghaire's questions if he wants to proceed with Question No. 18.
It is a matter we return to again and again. We had a fruitful discussion in the Oireachtas committee recently regarding dereliction. It frustrates people enormously and it has a huge impact on morale in towns and villages, and indeed in city centre areas as well, when they see dereliction, particularly at a time when there is such great housing need. I know it falls between two Departments but a more aggressive approach is needed. Some local authorities have taken that on but it needs to be rolled out across the board.
I propose to take Question Nos. 8, 18, 43 and 44 together.
Our Rural Future sets out this Government’s vision for the future of rural Ireland. Central to this vision is the importance of supporting the regeneration and development of rural towns and villages as vibrant and thriving rural places. This theme is further supported by the town centre first policy which includes a central focus on helping local communities to address challenges such as vacancy and dereliction in their own towns and villages. In support of these aims, my Department implements a range of schemes and supports which have seen record levels of investment in recent years. For example, the town and village renewal scheme was launched in 2016, and since then more than €177 million has been allocated to almost 1,800 projects. The 2023 scheme placed particular emphasis on projects that bring economic and social vibrancy to town centres and which will encourage more people into town and village centres to live, work, shop and socialise. At the end of April, I was delighted to confirm details of the 82 projects that were successful in being awarded funding under the 2023 scheme. In total, €20.4 million has now been allocated to these projects, and I look forward to seeing all the successful projects coming to fruition over the coming years. As with previous years, the challenge of vacancy in town centres featured heavily in the applications under the 2023 scheme.
The county of Cork is fortunate to have two local authorities, and I am delighted to confirm that the county has again fared well under the recent announcement of town and village renewal scheme funding. Since the inception of the scheme, Cork County Council has been allocated funding of more than €7.9 million. The most recent announcement saw Cork County Council allocated €590,000 for four projects. Cork City Council has been allocated funding of more than €1.5 million since it became eligible for the scheme in 2019. It was awarded €566,000 in the most recent announcement for four projects. This means that at the end of April I was able to allocate in excess of €1.15 million to projects in County Cork under the town and village renewal scheme.
Turning now to Carlow, under the 2023 scheme, it has been allocated more than €832,000 in funding for four projects in the county. This funding will see important projects funded in Carrigduff, Clonegal, St. Mullins and Tullow.
I wish all the successful projects under this year’s town and village renewal scheme the very best of luck as they move to the implementation stage. I have been fortunate to have seen at first hand many brilliant examples of completed town and village renewal projects over recent years and I can say with confidence that the funding is making a real impact on the ground. Of course, there are other schemes and supports my Department administers that also work to support rural communities in tackling challenges related to vacancy and dereliction.
Implementation of the Government’s town centre first policy is progressing well and we are now seeing very real momentum in this regard at local level. I am happy my Department continues to fund the 26 town regeneration officers who are now working with local communities all across rural Ireland. In addition, last February I launched a new €4.5 million suite of town centre first supports which will help local town teams develop and put in place plans for their own towns. These plans are vital in supporting communities to avail of the range of funding available from my Department and, indeed, from across Government.
The building acquisition measure is another funding source which has proved very beneficial to towns in addressing the challenges of vacancy and dereliction in recent years. In both 2022 and 2023, I made funding available under this measure to local authorities to facilitate the purchase of vacant or derelict buildings for use as multipurpose community spaces. To date, €10.7 million has been provided to support local authorities to purchase 53 vacant and derelict buildings, and I am very happy with how this new funding approach has worked so far. This initiative will see vacant properties such as old bank buildings, courthouses, cinemas and Garda stations redeveloped as community facilities throughout rural Ireland.
Similarly, the rural regeneration and development fund provides very significant levels of funding for the development and construction of capital projects in towns and villages across rural Ireland. The focus of this fund is also very much aligned with the goals of Our Rural Future and the town centre first policy, with town regeneration and vacancy and dereliction issues very much to the forefront. To date, €414 million has been invested under the rural regeneration and development fund to support 215 projects. The fifth call for category 1 projects under the fund closed earlier this year, and the assessment process is now well under way. I am very encouraged by the fact the applications received in the most recent call have drawn heavily on the work of the town centre regeneration officers and the town centre first plans which my Department has funded. Indeed, it is this type of integration and joined-up thinking between the various supports offered by my Department which will deliver the best results for our rural towns and villages. I expect to be in a position to announce the successful projects under the fund in the coming weeks.
I and my Department remain committed to seeing a real impact for our rural towns and villages through the implementation of both the Our Rural Future and town centre first policies. I will continue to ensure the many funding schemes within my Department help to empower communities to develop and implement fantastic and innovative projects which will make their towns better places in which to live, work, visit and invest.
I welcome what the Minister said but there is a need for local authorities to be more ambitious again. The Minister has a role in that but there is also a role for local authorities. As I said, some local authorities have taken up the mantle. While taking ownership of buildings and returning them to community use is important, part of this is also a need to take ownership of buildings and restore them to dwellings and other uses, not just community use. The scheme the Minister spoke about is welcome. I am not criticising it but we need to go further in that regard. We are in the middle of a housing crisis and people walk through our towns, cities and villages and see buildings that are derelict and vacant and it is very frustrating. In my constituency, I think of the historic spine of the city up North and South Main Street, Shandon Street, Barrack Street and the adjoining areas, an area of the city that is 800 or 900 years old. The amount of dereliction there is a huge blight on the area, an area which otherwise has great potential. Part of that needs to be, as well as community and commercial use, bringing families back into the town and city centres. Local authorities can and should do more.
I thank the Minister for her reply. I agree with the previous speaker, broadly. No Department is an island and this is a multi-Department issue with dereliction in our towns and villages. I commend the Ministers on their significant work and investment across the country, including in my constituency, Dublin Fingal, as it currently exists. I had the privilege of not that long ago attending with the Ministers the opening of a building in Lusk, which is an illustration of the effectiveness of the town and village renewal scheme. As the previous speaker alluded to, some local authorities are very good at it and some are not. My constituency is the largest rural constituency in Dublin. Parts of the constituency need further attention and investment. I encourage the Minister and her Department to have a conversation with Fingal County Council about numerous other rural towns in the north and west of the constituency.
I agree. I go through towns, see vacant and derelict buildings and ask why we are not doing something with these. They are a resource now because they are serviced, they have electricity, sewerage and water. We have been doing a lot of work with local authorities trying to get more people back living in the centre of towns. I am a great supporter of that because I believe there are huge opportunities. In fairness, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has been doing a huge amount of work. The vacant home refurbishment grant of up to €70,000 is available. There is huge demand for that scheme. It costs a bit extra to do up a town centre property. Sometimes you meet problems you certainly would not meet on a new build. That is why that is available - to help them. It is great, particularly when you drive through the country, to see old houses that were derelict and have now become wonderful new properties that families are moving into. The Department of housing also has vacant homes officers in local authorities who lead on other schemes like the repair and lease scheme and the buy and renew scheme. Some local authorities have used those schemes to great effect. The local authority in Waterford in particular has shown what can be achieved through those schemes. There is a learning here. Some local authorities are great, others are not as good. I say, get them all in the room and let them all tell you what they are doing. It is no harm. It perhaps creates a bit of competition. They should learn from their colleagues because we want to make all of our towns and villages better places in which to work and live.
The Department of housing is also doing a lot of work in larger towns and cities through the urban regeneration fund and looking at how to combat vacancy and dereliction. My focus in my Department is on repurposing buildings for remote work, enterprise centres and community centres. That has always been my focus. The Department of housing is looking at getting more people into towns. I am trying to increase footfall with digital hubs and enterprise centres. More people are coming into those now. That is good for towns because what brings vibrancy to towns is people. We need people, whether living or working, in our towns. That is what makes the difference.
That is precisely right. That is what a lot of the strategy needs to be. Retail is part of the solution but we also need families in our town centres. The two drive each other. I welcome the funding. We discussed it last week with the Heritage Council, which, along with several other stakeholders, was before the Oireachtas committee on the issue of dereliction. One area that got funding was the town of Passage West in my constituency, which is close to Cork city. It highlights another power local authorities have. While it is welcome that investment is happening there in planning, Passage West is an historic town. It was effectively the original port of Cork. There is a great maritime tradition, but it is also an area that has not reached its full potential, and I think it can. There is an 8-acre site in the middle of town - the old docks - that is in private ownership. One of the mechanisms at the disposal of local authorities is their planning power. If they do not possess something, they can create master plans for future use and dictate what the future use of a site will be upon its next sale. Sometimes, that power is not used. The docklands site in Passage West in particular is the key to opening up the town onto the water, which will be a huge asset if it can happen.
I completely agree with what the Minister said. As she well knows, vibrant communities have people living in the middle of them. Especially in northern Fingal, the success of the national broadband project has meant that more and more people have the capacity to work from home, particularly in a post-Covid environment. Any public representative knows there are just as many people at home in the middle of the afternoon as in the evenings when we would have traditionally canvassed. That is because of the roll-out of broadband and the increasing number of people moving to our rural communities. A key and important aspect of the success of a community is turning vacancy into homes and other community facilities, whether retail or other. I commend the Minister and her Department on the work being done. My only comment is, like the Minister, there are certain properties when you drive or walk by them you ask why they are still vacant, because these grants have been around for a while. I commend the Minister's Department and the Department of housing on the work it does with local authorities. I am just looking for more.
Fingal has got €2.7 million since 2016 under the town and village renewal scheme. Cork city got €1.5 million and Cork county got €7.9 million. There has been considerable investment in both counties. The town and village renewal scheme provides grants of up to €500,000 for large-scale projects. If you need more funding for bigger projects, there is the rural regeneration fund. The town centre first officers are making a difference, as is giving extra funding to town teams, which are local people. Local people know what towns need. They have a wealth of local knowledge as to who owns which property and how it can be acquired or could be sold. We have given them extra money to support them to increase their capacity. They are making a difference. Town centre first officers are working well across local authorities. I was in Urlingford only last week. I opened a new hub there. It is a former bank building. I find I am going to more and more old banks because banks are closing. This is the world we live in. We have to repurpose them and find other uses for them. It is now a remote working hub. It is on the main road from Limerick to Dublin. You can drop off there, take a break and do some remote work. That is the big selling point. It is off the main motorway.
10. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will provide an update on the assessment of applications under the community services programme, administered by Pobal, to include the numbers of applications received, the numbers that were successful and whether there will be additional funding provided this year, given the volume of applications received; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20864/24]
Will the Minister provide an update on the assessment of applications under the community services programme administered by Pobal? Will she provide the number of applications received, the numbers that were successful, those still being assessed and any plans for providing additional funding before the end of this year?
I do not think it will come as any surprise that my follow-up question will be about Muirhevnamore community centre, and I may also have a question about Blackrock community centre.
My Department's community services programme supports more than 430 community-based organisations to provide local services through a social enterprise model with an annual co-funding contribution towards each full-time equivalent position being supported and, where warranted, towards the cost of employing a manager. In March 2023, funding of €1 million was made available for a call for proposals in respect of specific CSP services, resulting in 14 new applicants being approved entry to the CSP in December 2023, supporting 13 manager positions and 23 full-time equivalent positions, valued at approximately €1 million. There are a number of organisations in the pipeline for support. However, this is subject to available resources. An application window for funding additional staff posts for existing CSP-funded organisations was opened on 1 September 2023 with a closing date of the end of September 2023. Pobal, which manages and administers the programme on behalf of the Department, received 137 applications from CSP-supported organisations under this call for applications. Pobal has undertaken an assessment of all applications received, with its recommendations submitted to the Department. Applications are under review, but due to the volume of applications received, it is expected notifications will issue to organisations in the coming weeks.
The Department is acutely aware of the pressures on the organisations supported under the community services programme in recent years. Supports provided under the CSP are considered in light of available budgets and the Department has had to consider a number of financial pressures over the past year under the CSP funding. These are the €1 million open call and an additional staff funding call launched in 2023, implications of the increase to the minimum wage in 2024 and upcoming costs that will have to be factored in relating to the pension auto-enrolment scheme, which is successfully moving through the Dáil at the moment.
I welcome the Minister's answer. We are dealing with a huge number of applications because there is a huge amount of need. That goes without saying. Everybody across this campus could probably speak to the work done by many community organisations and its absolute necessity for the community. I ask that whatever can be done is done to ensure we can deliver as much as possible. We know the financial pressures for businesses and community organisations from the necessary added costs from wages. We also know about the added costs from the cost of living, energy costs, and so on. They obviously also impact on them. However, there is currently an application with the Department that relates to Muirhevnamore community centre. I can speak to the work that is done in terms of youth groups, youth training, addiction supports, disability supports, the HSE and everybody else who operates out of there. It has expanded in the past while and provides a fabulous service to the local community.
I acknowledge the Deputy's ongoing advocacy for Muirhevnamore community centre. He raises it with me regularly. We supply funding for it to support a manager and three full-time equivalents, so that is an annual contribution of €114,000 supplied to Muirhevnamore community centre. I again summarise that, over the past four years, there has been a list of financial pressures on the CSP that really started with Covid. Many CSP organisations depend on the income they generate themselves. That varies a lot depending on where organisations are situated. We had a job to make sure CSP organisations survived through Covid. Many of them were not able to generate their own income, so we developed a support fund to guide the 400-plus organisations through that challenge. We have a new model, which gives CSP organisations a graded contribution. I think Muirhevnamore is one of those getting a higher contribution under the new model because it is in an area of higher need with less ability to generate its own income.
I ask that the huge work done by the like of Muirhevnamore community centre on the basis of being in an area of disadvantage be taken into account. We all know that, with community centres, you can be between timelines when it comes to anchor tenancies and so on. I know some of that is happening at the moment which has probably added pressures. I also know work is being done with SOLAS and the LMETB to rectify these and provide an added service. It is a service where there is a lot more work and throughput on the basis of the shared space extension, which was named after a friend of mine, Kevin Mulgrew, due to the huge work he carried out in that community and the wider area of Dundalk.
I also previously asked the Minister of State about Blackrock community centre and that his Department engage with it. It previously failed on the basis of displacement, but it said the sort of jobs it was looking at could not be dealt with by Tús and CE. While it might not be in the same sort of area as Muirhevnamore, it provides a huge service and we should look at facilitating it.
I acknowledge and take the opportunity to thank all of those involved in CSP organisations. The past couple of years have been particularly challenging, and they have all stepped up to the plate. If the Deputy sends me more detail on the Blackrock situation, we can look into it. I do not know if appeal options were exhausted.
To outline what we have been doing in terms of boosting CSP funding in recent years, we put out the new call and kept things going during Covid. That also involved significant investment. The new model also cost us a little more. The minimum wage rise of €1.40 in last year's budget was also something we had to factor in for this year's budget. At the moment we are also looking at additional staff applications. Looking forward to budget 2025, we will also have to factor in some additional costs for organisations, which will come with the benefit of auto enrolment. With all of that in the mix we will certainly do our best for the organisations that are working hard.
11. Deputy Alan Farrell asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development for an update on her Department's support for community libraries; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20570/24]
I ask the Minister for her response.
Investing in our library service is a key priority for me, as Minister, and this is reflected in the new public library strategy, The Library Is the Place, which I launched in July last year. The strategy recognises that public libraries are at the heart of our communities. My Department is supporting this by providing a wide range of funding for library buildings, mobile library vehicles and ICT equipment. Last month, I announced a new libraries capital programme, which will see a major investment of €22.6 million in 11 state-of-the-art infrastructure projects and a further €2.6 million in 12 next generation mobile library vehicles. Included in that €22.6 million was €3 million for a new library in Swords, County Dublin. This is the successor to the previous libraries capital programme, which invested approximately €29 million and supported 17 infrastructure projects from 2016 to 2022. This is in addition to investing in the My Open Library service, a small-scale capital works programme and mobile libraries. My Department’s rural regeneration development fund has also provided funding of €60.5 million to develop and deliver library projects across rural Ireland. Last November, I announced funding of €1.3 million for the provision of new ICT equipment in public libraries. This investment in 1,685 devices, including PCs, laptops and Apple devices, supports the public library strategy commitment to provide up-to-date ICT infrastructure which makes our public libraries more accessible and digitally inclusive. In July 2022, I announced funding of more than €3.1 million to support the provision of the My Open Library service in 17 new branches and the upgrade of the service in 29 existing branches.
I thank the Minister. Since my beginnings in politics in 2004, I have been incredibly proud to support improving our libraries across Fingal. One thing I was most proud of when I served as mayor in 2007 was the reopening of both Malahide and Garristown libraries. The library in Garristown is a wonderful facility with a fantastic history.
The Minister has been very consistent in investment across Fingal, as she rightly mentioned. A huge wonderful project is being delivered in Swords and a project is being delivered in Donabate among others. It goes to show that where a little money is spent, it can have such a positive benefit for communities that in 2024, when everyone is going digital and looking at doing studies and reading online on a computer screen, our libraries are still thriving. That is a fantastic testament to the Minister's Department and to local authorities throughout the country. I take the opportunity in the seconds I have left to compliment the Ministers, Deputies Humphreys and Darragh O'Brien, on the work being done. It is something we can all be very proud of.
I love libraries. They are wonderful places and do fantastic work. They are hives of activity for all the community. Older people learn computer skills. There are language classes for people who are looking to learn a new language. There are book clubs, which are a great way to meet people. A lot is happening in our libraries. We have 330 libraries across the country. They come in different shapes and sizes and my Department is supporting them through a number of strands including the libraries capital programme and the rural regeneration and development fund. Both of those together have invested €86 million in our libraries in recent years.
I was delighted to open the new Mayfair library in Kilkenny only two weeks ago. I turned the sod on a new library in Thomastown the same day and on Friday I will open a new library at the Monaghan Peace Campus in Monaghan town. I am delighted to do so. Last year, I opened new libraries in Trim, Virginia, Castleblayney, Portlaoise and Kinsale and they are all major capital projects. This Government is investing in our communities and libraries. They have become focal points in our towns. It is a great investment of money.
