Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The frustration for a lot of communities arose because this occurred through no fault of their own. It was an issue around governance and administration by county council officials. This impacted on applicants seeking to get roads upgraded or a recreational walking trail or cycle track delivered. Consequences arose because of officials and their negligence in respect of their duties. I ask, therefore, that any projects submitted in the paused period be revisited in the coming year and, possibly, be put back into the funding stream as a priority.

I also raise issues around the rural regeneration and development fund, RRDF. We have the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, which is the flagship scheme in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The RRDF is administered within the Department of Rural and Community Development. On the approval of RRDF funding and the completion of projects, how are key performance indicators, KPIs, measured for local authorities in respect of delivery? It is necessary to go through different decision gates, and I understand this, but what is the average timeline for local authorities to deliver on their commitments? This is a multimillion euro annual commitment by the witnesses' Department, but we feel frustrated because of the time it takes to deliver on the ground.