The Rural Regeneration and Development Fund seeks to support ambitious and strategic projects which have the potential to transform rural economies and communities. The Government has committed €1 billion over 10 years to the Fund and €315 million is allocated to the Fund for the period 2019-2022.
Under the published guidelines relating to the Fund it is stated that the Fund will provide up to 75% of the total project cost, with at least 25% to be provided in matching contributions by the applicants. A minimum of 10% of matching contributions must be in cash.
Matched funding may be in the form of a combination of wider Exchequer and/or State sector expenditure, Local Authority investment and/or land, community investment, philanthropic contributions, private sector investment (where appropriate), or other asset contributions. Funds secured from existing Department of Rural and Community Development schemes or programmes are not eligible to be used as matched funding.
The second call for Category 1 applications for the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund closed on 6th August 2019. Category 1 projects are projects which have all necessary planning and other consents in place and are ready to proceed. There was an excellent response from across the country and my Department received 69 applications for funding. I announced the successful projects from the second call on the 6th November 2019. 26 projects were approved for funding of €62 million to support projects costing €95 million.
It should be noted that the allocation of funding to successful projects under the Fund is only in principle at this time and is subject to the completion of final due diligence, including confirmation of matched funding, and oversight of any emerging procurement costs. In due course, successful applicants will enter into a contractual arrangement with the Department to deliver as planned.
Table 1 sets out projects approved under the second call, the total funding allocated, the matched funding being supplied and the source of the matched funding.
Table 2 sets out the total number of applications received under the second call, as well as the number of successful and unsuccessful applications.
Table 1. Projects approved under the Second Call with details of matched funding.
Table 1
Table 2. Number of Applications under the Second Call per County
|
County
|
No of Projects Approved
|
No of unsuccessful projects
|
No of Applications
|
|
Carlow
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
|
Cavan
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
|
Clare
|
1
|
5
|
6
|
|
Cork
|
2
|
2
|
4
|
|
Donegal
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
|
Galway
|
1
|
3
|
4
|
|
Kerry
|
1
|
5
|
6
|
|
Kilkenny
|
0
|
3
|
3
|
|
Laois
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
|
Leitrim
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
|
Limerick
|
0
|
5
|
5
|
|
Longford
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
|
Mayo
|
3
|
1
|
4
|
|
Meath
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
|
Monaghan
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
|
Offaly
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
|
Roscommon
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
|
Sligo
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
|
Tipperary
|
3
|
1
|
4
|
|
Waterford
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
|
Wexford
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
|
Wicklow
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
|
Kildare, Laois
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
|
Donegal, Galway, Kerry, Leitrim
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
|
|
26
|
43
|
69
|
