Senator Grace O'Sullivan asked a very good question. I will go through a few things. The whole point of setting up the Department related to regional development. That is why the Taoiseach, in particular, and the Government made the decision, which involved trying to rebalance what was happening in Dublin and rural Ireland. Dublin has a problem with capacity, housing and overpopulation, while rural areas face all sorts of difficulties. Rural development was one of the matters to which the Senator referred. This is why we drew up the Action Plan for Rural Development. I chair the group responsible for the latter. We bring in all the different entities, including State agencies and Departments. I also have a second role in the Cabinet regarding regional development. My officials and I must monitor every scheme that comes through. The Senator asked a good question about our working with other Departments and Ministers. My job, particularly in Cabinet, is to ensure that any scheme, development or change is rural-proofed. This is where I must fight rural Ireland's corner, particularly when it comes to balance. This is why we set up the outdoor recreation scheme to which the Senator referred. She spoke about how well the greenway in Waterford has worked. It has been a tremendous success and has lifted the town and the surrounding area. I have seen similar things happen in Leitrim, Mayo and Sligo. The scheme has worked very well in any place where these walks were grant-aided. The Senator asked whether we monitor the schemes we grant aid. We try to support the schemes, particularly social enterprise schemes. Social enterprises receive direct grants in some cases. They are expected to be self sufficient after a number of years. Some of them have worked very well.
The Senator also referred to Dr. Senan Cooke. I had the pleasure of launching Dr. Cooke's book. Senator Coffey asked me to do that. Dr. Cooke has been very passionate about rural Ireland all his life so there was no better man to write the book because he did it from the ground up. Along with Senator Coffey, I was in his place a number of years ago. He is committed the social enterprise aspect of community, as am I. Some of the schemes support social enterprises where we have another problem. They are supposed to be social enterprises. I am carrying out a review of that scheme. We hope that the social enterprises will be able to create jobs, become self-sufficient and not need any support from Government. I have the other problem whereby we have enterprises that do not really take in any revenue but that do a social justice job for us which local communities, the Government or the councils will not do. In respect of funding these community groups and where there is a problem with the minimum wage, there is a hardship fund that I have asked Pobal to examine.
It will write to them directly. I will continue the scheme for the year, but I need to carry out a review of schemes.
We spoke about the rural regeneration scheme. I have a note on what was applied for in County Waterford. Waterford County Council has done well during the years in the funding it has received. It has made one application for a shovel ready project under the rural regeneration scheme and four applications in category two for seed funding. That is why the rural regeneration and the town and village schemes were established. We copied the Action Plan for Jobs in providing an action plan for rural Ireland. If there was one thing that worked it was the Action Plan for Jobs. What I like about the action plan for rural development is that I can bring in any State agency. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice raised issues to do with social welfare and housing. All of the Departments have representatives who must come in. I chair the group and look at the issues that affect rural Ireland.
The Department's aim with the rural regeneration and the town and village schemes is to have balanced regional development. That is why I met Enterprise Ireland recently and will meet IDA Ireland next week. We must start looking at ways and means. Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and Údarás na Gaeltachta must be able to put in place initiatives to create ways for companies and individuals to invest in rural Ireland. The best way to get them to invest is through the town and village scheme to make nice places in which to live and have community spirit, through the sports capital programme to provide facilities and through the provision of schools and infrastructure because if they are not provided, companies will not come and people will not come to live in rural Ireland.
One thing we have in rural Ireland is a great quality of life. People like living there. They want to live in rural Ireland. They are not looking for the sun, the moon and the stars. What they are looking for is fair play from central government, which is why the Department was established. The schemes are working well and I am happy with them. Of course, I would like to have more money and this year I fought hard with the Minister for Finance for further funding, but, as Senator Hopkins said, as the economy begins to lift, more funding will become available. The rural regeneration scheme will deal with bigger projects, while the town and village scheme, the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme, the CLÁR programme and other schemes, including the social enterprise scheme, will all help social enterprise in rural Ireland.
Deputy Danny Healy-Rae spoke about the local improvement scheme in County Kerry. It was one of his big issues and has always been an issue for him. To be fair, he has always acknowledged that the funding has been well spent. To be fair to it, Kerry County Council is a very good local authority. It is one of those at the top in the LEADER programme. To date, allocations of €7.65 million and €1.659 million have been processed for LEADER projects. The total amount approved for projects is €23.02 million. The total claimed for projects in 2018 amounts to €525,000. Kerry is one of the better counties when it comes to spending. It has applications in the shovel ready category, as well as the second category. It is doing well in that regard. The Deputy spoke about the lease and repair scheme about which I spoke. It did not work. He also spoke about the post office network. I will answer that question later. He also spoke about the works scheme. Funding is in place to provide for a €2 million increase in the allocation for the scheme this year.
Senator Hopkins spoke about the town and village scheme. I agree with her that it is the best scheme for rural Ireland. I met the local authorities because it is called the town and village scheme and I wanted towns and villages, particularly villages, to be given an opportunity. The one good thing about it is that last year every local authority was given an opportunity to make 12 applications. I insisted on projects being spread throughout the country. The funding we put in place is spread throughout the country.
The Senator also spoke about the Beara-Breifne Way, into which we put €1 million, as many people had spoken about it for a long time. We are developing it in on a phased basis and it is going very well. The Senator knows that the scheme has created and will create many jobs and generated tourism in the area, as has happened in County Waterford because of the numbers of people using the greenway and resulting from it has done for small businesses and local communities.
The Senator spoke about Boyle being one of the six towns chosen for a pilot scheme. Off the top of my head, last week it received funding under the town and village scheme. We also gave it €100,000. There is a very active young group in it and people really want to see the town being revitalised. It now has such an opportunity and will come back to the Department. I hope it will give us some ideas about what it would like to see happening in their town. This is also the case in Ballinrobe and other towns, including Callan, County Kilkenny and the town in County Waterford that we picked. They will give us ideas and tell us what they want to do to try to regenerate towns and villages.
More and more people are coming to live in rural Ireland where accommodation is beginning to become a problem. It makes financial and political sense for local authorities, State agencies and the Government to work together to try to put in place a scheme to encourage people to live in rural Ireland. It is an opportunity to deal with the housing crisis. It is not all about grants, but I am sure what will come back in the recommendations from the six towns is that they will require investment from the Government and that we may need pilot schemes. I am prepared to look at and do anything to deal with the problem.
An issue of which I am aware - I know that the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, is looking at it - is that we need to do something about compulsory purchase orders where a local authority wishes to take over a derelict property. Some of the properties have been left to people who are deceased or who are in the United States or Australia and do not even know that they own them. When I was a member of the town council, the scheme worked well. A property is valued on the day it is taken over and anyone coming back to inherit it has his or her rights. It is terrible to see the dereliction caused where people do not even live in the country and probably who do not even know that they own the property. We need to do something about this issue. That is what the pilot scheme is all about.
In County Roscommon there are applications for two shovel ready projects and two for the other scheme.
Senator Hopkins asked about the assessment criteria. We have set up an advisory board in the Department that will also involve the Departments of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Housing, Planing and Local Government and Business, Enterprise and Innovation. Three independent outside experts will look at the schemes. I will not get involved. They will make recommendations to me. One of the criteria is that I want to see a spread throughout the country. Some counties may submit very good schemes, but I want to see a good spread. The advisory board will conduct the assessment and come back to me with recommendations. I will make the final decision, but the advisory board will have to decide on the projects. It would not be right for me or the Department to do so. The best way to do it is through the advisory board as it is more independent. The one thing I want to see is a spread throughout the country.
Deputy Fitzmaurice asked about spend. He is correct.
This year, under the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme, I let LEADER companies apply for funding for smaller schemes to see if they would be able to handle the spend better. I will adjudicate between now and the end of the year to see how they get on. If there were other formats and ways that I could use to give the money to communities, I would use them, but I also have to have the public auditor to make sure everything is above board. The Accounting Officer is sitting to my left and also has to be satisfied that whatever taxpayers' money we spend is spent correctly. It has to be monitored; there have to be checks and balances, as we saw in previous schemes when things went wrong. There were problems with the LEADER programme when many difficulties were encountered in the first round.
The Deputy also talked about the Tidy Towns competition. I am glad that he mentioned it. He was one of the few to mention it. I allocated a capital grant of €1.4 million and simplified the scheme. I made it very simple. It is a "Thank you" for the work Tidy Towns committees do all over the country.
I have raised the issue that was raised by the Deputy related to social protection. I will ask the Secretary General to obtain the information. If I do not have it at the next meeting on the action plan for rural development, I will bring in representatives of the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection at the meeting after that. The meeting is to be held tomorrow. I will not have the information tomorrow, but I will have it at the next monthly meeting. I will make sure the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection will give us an update. I thought there were going to be changes. The Deputy is correct, as I see in my county, that people are satisfied with the schemes, including the rural social scheme and others. They are great schemes which work well and are good for the community and the country. I am not being disrespectful when I say this, but people are at an age where they probably will not find employment and are happy with the jobs and work they have to do. I will talk to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection about the matter.
We do not thank or appreciate Tidy Towns committees enough for the work they do for local communities. Sometimes people complain about the work they do. I try to encourage and support them because they deserve credit for what they do for towns and villages. They do not really get the recognition they deserve. I see people involved in my town out at 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., cleaning up after others. People come into towns, dump their rubbish and expect others to clean it up. I compliment Tidy Towns committees for their work in that regard.
The LEADER programme is beginning to be ramped up. I want to see the funding spent. I am confident that this year €26 million will be spent on the programme. I would like to see more being spent on it. As it is ramped up, we will put funding in place to ensure people receive the money for which they will apply.
The Deputy talked about post offices. He knows my views on the subject and I know his. I agree with him. When representatives of An Post are here, they cannot take a rigid line. Where there is demand and a need, while it does not have to provide the full range of services, it can provide some. That will keep people happy. An Post has a public obligation to provide a service for the community. Somebody else raised the way it worked out the criteria, of which I would not be overly fond. There would be 950 post offices left. If we could save 1,000 of them instead, we would be doing well. I hope that in the future people will realise that if they want to have a post office, they will have to use it. We looked at post offices handling the car tax renewals. Over 80% of people now do so online and will not change their habits. When people need a passport when going on holidays or a loved one dies, they used to come to us. They also used to do it through the post, but now they can do it online. That service is broken. We have to start looking at new ways and means, as does An Post. It cannot expect the Government to do everything for it. It is a semi-State company and has to start looking at new schemes, ways and means to generate new business. That is what every other businessman in the country does. They look at where they are and where they are going. If every other businessman and business in the country was to stand still, they would close down too. An Post has to start looking at new ways to do business.