Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 April 2024
798. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will provide the amount of grant-aid returned and or surrendered to her Department, by local authority in 2022, 2023 and to date in 2024, to include the heading of which it was intended for. [19367/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraLocal Authorities are key delivery partners for many of the schemes operated by my Department, and funding of €210,458,015 and €245,528,487 was made available to local authorities in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
On occasion funds are returned to the Department for a number of reasons. For example, projects which have been pre-funded may return funds where the project is completed for less than the maximum grant amount, or funds may be returned on foot of inspections finding some ineligible expenditure.
The information requested by the Deputy regarding the amount of grant-aid returned and or surrendered to my Department by each local authority for the years referred to are outlined in the attached appendix. It should be noted that the substantial returns from Mayo County Council in 2022 relate to projects which were subject to inspection findings. It should also be noted that the returns relating to the Town and Village Streetscape Scheme 2021 resulted from works which were pre-funded not being completed within agreed timeframes, which included extensions to the original timelines.
