Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

In December 2009 the Government approved disbursements from the dormant accounts fund for a once-off measure to the value of €1.25 million for the five new provincial towns incorporated under the RAPID programme, including Rathkeale. To date, it has not been possible to allocate funds to meet the cost of the proposed projects in any of the new RAPID programme towns because there is no money available. The dormant accounts capital budget for my Department for 2012 is fully committed to existing projects and the priority in the light of that allocation must be to ensure sufficient funding is available to meet existing legal contractual commitments. In the meantime, my Department will keep under review the scope to secure funds within its Vote to meet the cost of some of the projects, if I can, in 2012.

Under the national housing regeneration programme, my Department supports a range of regeneration projects, including large mono-tenure areas, inner city flat complexes and social housing estates in regional towns. To qualify for such support, a local authority must first demonstrate significant social and economic disadvantage and a poor living environment and that these challenges cannot be met by other interventions, for example, through remedial works. To date, my Department has not received an application for such support for a regeneration project in Rathkeale.

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