Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Funding for rural development programmes within my Department's Estimate for 2017 will amount to €79.27 million. This represents an increase of €18 million or 29% compared to the 2016 baseline of €61.2 million. This will allow for increased activity on key rural development schemes administered by the Department and will also complement the broader work of the Department, much of which has a positive impact on rural Ireland. For example, we have trebled the funding for the town and village regeneration scheme. The figure for 2017 is €12 million. We have secured an additional €8 million for the rural development scheme, including €5 million for the recently re-opened Clár programme. There will be €40 million for the delivery of the Leader rural development programme. I have increased the funding for the preparation for the roll out of broadband across rural Ireland and I should also mention the increase in funding for the Heritage Council which will benefit communities in rural Ireland. Some schemes are running at the moment, including the town and village regeneration scheme. Applications are being examined. There is a total of €10 million in that scheme. Applications to the €5 million rural economic development zone programme will close at the end of this month. A total of €4.5 million has been provided in rural recreation funding.

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