Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 December 2018
509. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the extent to which he will be in a position to offer development assistance to the various Tidy Towns committees in County Kildare which have in the past participated in their respective competitions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52153/18]
View answerTo celebrate the 60th anniversary of the TidyTowns Competition in 2018, I announced a grant scheme of €1.4 million at the end of 2017 to mark, in a small way, the efforts of TidyTowns committees all over the country who have given countless hours to make their communities better places in which to live. Over 900 committees availed of the grant in 2017.
Funding of between €1,000 and €4,000 was available to TidyTowns committees who had entered the competition in either of the years from 2015 to 2017. In County Kildare, more than 40 different TidyTowns committees received funding totalling €76,000 in 2017.
I was delighted to again be able to announce funding of €1.4 million in September this year for TidyTowns committees, to assist them in preparing for the 2019 competition.
Funding of between €1,000 and €4,000 will be available to TidyTowns committees who have entered the competition in any of the last three years. The allocation to County Kildare under the 2018 scheme is €73,000 and represents 41 separate TidyTowns committees who are eligible to apply. This brings the total amount of funding which has been made available to County Kildare under the TidyTowns grant scheme in the last two years to €149,000.
