Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In the next six to eight weeks, we will be laying out the criteria for how the four different funds will work. The criteria will be based on the experience I had in managing the local housing infrastructure activation fund. My objective is that the fund will be open for applications across the summer and that the criteria will be based on the approach used in the context of the national planning framework. For example, regarding urban projects, it will be about how it can promote living space and commercial use in city centre settings.

On the kind of projects for which it can be used, it could be used for bridges but also, more generally, to co-fund infrastructure or land acquisition that is needed to enable particular projects to happen. I am aware of a number of larger projects across the country that require local authority financial support. Our local authorities are not currently in a position to directly provide that support. There have been many calls for a budget line to try to make that happen, and that is what I am now doing.