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 and I allocated additional funding last year from savings within my Department's vote, effectively doubling investment to bring the total expended under the Scheme in 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 details of the 2022 Local Improvement Scheme earlier today, including the allocations to each individual county.
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.
