Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 November 2018
11. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development when applications to the rural regeneration and development fund will be assessed and approvals notified to the successful applicants. [46129/18]
View answerThe first call for applications for the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund closed at the end of September. €1 billion is committed to this fund over a 10 year period to support rural economic development and help build strong communities.
There was a great response with 290 applications received. Of these 125 were for category 1 "shovel ready" projects and the other 165 were for category 2 projects - those which need development funding to become potential category 1 applications in future calls for applications.
Assessment criteria are published and the applications are now being assessed by a project advisory board. The board includes representatives from key Government Departments and external experts.
By the end of this month I am expecting to receive recommendations from the project advisory board on the first group of category 1 projects for funding and I will announce the first tranche of successful category 1 projects.
Further announcements on successful category 1 and category 2 projects will follow.
