Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 April 2024
770. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development to provide an update on the current review of CLÁR designated areas within her Department, and when the review will conclude; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18829/24]
View answerThe CLÁR Programme provides funding under a number of different measures for small-scale infrastructural projects in designated rural areas that have experienced significant levels of depopulation over a defined period.
Since the programme was relaunched in 2016, it has supported a wide range of measures with over €70 million being approved for almost 2,400 projects throughout rural Ireland. This funding is making a real difference in many of our smaller and more remote communities.
The areas originally selected for inclusion in the programme in 2001 were those which suffered the greatest population decline from 1926 to 1996. The average population loss in the original CLÁR areas over the period 1926 to 1996 was 50%.
In 2006, an analysis of the 2002 Census data was carried out by Maynooth University and the programme was extended to include areas with an average population loss of 35% between 1926 and 2002.
A national review of CLÁR areas was subsequently undertaken in 2021 using the 2016 Census of Population data, reviewing the most recent changes in population patterns throughout the country.
From the review it is clear that many areas have seen population growth in the relevant period rather than decline, and indeed the most recent census data published by the Central Statistics Office points to population growth across all counties since 2016.
The details of the review are being considered by my Department. In addition, the implications of the latest Census data would need to be evaluated before any decisions are made in relation to changing areas throughout Ireland which will be designated as eligible for CLÁR.
