Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 May 2019
678. Deputy Brendan Ryan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 1353 of 26 March 2019, the terms and conditions of urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, support; the work to be undertaken by Kildare County Council in 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22050/19]
View answerThe Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) is a flagship element of Project Ireland 2040, with €2 billion identified in the National Development Plan (NDP) to 2027. Of this, €58m is available in 2019 to provide initial support for the 88 projects approved for URDF support last November, while €550 million is included in the NDP to provide further support for these and other similar projects up to 2022.
Support from the Fund will assist in rejuvenating Ireland’s five cities and other large towns, and enabling a greater proportion of residential and mixed-use development to be delivered within the existing built-up footprints of our cities and towns. It will ensure that more parts of our urban areas can become attractive and vibrant places in which people choose to live and work, as well as to invest and to visit.
Bids were invited from public bodies throughout Ireland for funding under the URDF and a total of 189 applications were received by my Department under the first call for proposals. On 26 November 2018, initial URDF support of €100m was provisionally allocated to a total of 88 projects throughout the country.
As part of this first tranche of approvals, Kildare County Council was awarded initial URDF support of €400,000 towards the provision of technical assistance for the advancement of their Celbridge Southern Relief Road & Second Liffey Crossing proposal.
Since last November’s announcement, the Department has engaged with a large number of the successful applicants to further clarify the details of their proposals, the proposed composition and progression of projects, and to establish the level of related URDF funding demands expected to arise for 2019 and beyond.
The Department has now concluded this process and further correspondence setting out the terms and conditions attached to URDF support, together with the arrangements for management and disbursement of the associated Exchequer funding, will issue shortly.
