Written Answers Nos. 1-82
69. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of measures concluded in the Our Rural Future: Rural Development Policy 2021-2025 document since it was launched in March 2021. [17872/22]
View answerOur Rural Future 2021-2025, is the most ambitious rural development policy for Ireland in decades, and contains more than 150 measures across the whole of Government, for both short-term recovery and longer-term development.
Updates on its implementation are provided by a series of Progress Reports. In addition, annual work programmes are published, which will allow for priorities to be updated in light of emerging opportunities and challenges. Within these work programmes, the 150 overarching measures in the Policy have been broken down into individual actions for delivery.
The First Progress Report, which was published in February, provides updates on a total of 216 actions contained in the 2021 work programme for delivery right across Government. It should be noted that significant progress has been made to date across actions and implementation is ongoing. In terms of completion, just under 80% of actions to be carried out by the end of 2021 were completed by end year.
A new work programme for 2022 is currently being finalised in conjunction with Departments and I expect to publish this shortly. However, I can say that it will demonstrate continued commitment to realising the ambitions of Our Rural Future, including the development of some new actions under the policy.
Many of the 2022 actions are already underway, and updates on these will be provided in further Progress Reports to be produced every six months, as per the commitment in the Policy.
I am committed to ensuring that the momentum we have established in the first year of Our Rural Future is maintained, and that we can continue to deliver on the Government's commitment to and vision for rural Ireland.
77. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she has considered allocating additional funding to the local improvement scheme for private roads and laneways given the backlog of applications. [17942/22]
View answer81. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the allocation for local improvement scheme-funded roads for 2022, by county; if she envisages a top-up fund for such roads similar to 2021; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17919/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 77 and 81 together.
As part of Our Rural Future, the Government is committed to ensuring that the Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) is funded into the future. The LIS supports the improvement of rural roads and laneways that are not normally maintained by local authorities. The scheme makes an important contribution to connectivity in rural Ireland.
The scheme was reintroduced in 2017, following a number of years with no dedicated funding. Since then, my Department has allocated €80 million towards improvement works on over 3,000 non-public roads and lanes. These works have benefited over 13,300 landowners and residents in these rural areas.
I launched the 2021 scheme with an initial budget of €10.5 million. I sourced additional funding last year from savings within my Department's vote, effectively doubling investment to bring the total for 2021 to €21 million.
I was pleased, as part of Budget 2022, to announce an increase in the base funding for LIS from €10.5 million to €11 million this year. I announced the details of the 2022 scheme earlier today, including the details of the individual allocations to each county this year. These details will be available in the accompanying written reply to the Deputies and are available on my Department's website.
I am sure this investment will be warmly welcomed.
I will keep the position in respect to the availability of further top-up funding under review.
I have also recently written again to my colleague, Minister Eamon Ryan, T.D., to explore whether funding may be available from the Department of Transport to support the scheme. I believe a cross-Government approach might reap dividends in dealing with the backlog of applications on hand and I will continue to keep all options open in this regard.
|
COUNTY |
2022 LIS ALLOCATION |
|
Carlow |
€351,880 |
|
Cavan |
€371,140 |
|
Clare |
€582,690 |
|
Cork |
€879,099 |
|
Donegal |
€716,560 |
|
Galway |
€958,831 |
|
Kerry |
€704,030 |
|
Kildare |
€351,880 |
|
Kilkenny |
€390,790 |
|
Laois |
€351,880 |
|
Leitrim |
€351,880 |
|
Limerick |
€485,970 |
|
Longford |
€351,880 |
|
Louth |
€351,880 |
|
Meath |
€340,500 |
|
Monaghan |
€351,880 |
|
Offaly |
€380,760 |
|
Roscommon |
€456,990 |
|
Sligo |
€358,030 |
|
Tipperary |
€644,070 |
|
Waterford |
€92,910 |
|
Westmeath |
€358,320 |
|
Wexford |
€431,760 |
|
Wicklow |
€384,390 |
