Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

CLÁR was originally launched in October 2001 to provide for targeted investment in disadvantaged rural areas. The areas originally selected for inclusion in the programme were those which suffered the greatest population decline from 1926 to 1996. The Cooley Peninsula was also included on the basis of the serious difficulties caused in that area by foot and mouth disease. The average population loss in the original CLÁR regions over the period 1926 to 1996 was over 50%.

In 2006, an analysis of the 2002 census data was carried out by the NIRSA Institute at Maynooth University and the programme was extended to include areas with an average population loss of 35% between 1926 and 2002.

The CLÁR programme was closed for new applications in 2010. However, I relaunched the programme in the second half of 2016, using as a base-line the areas identified in the work carried out by NIRSA. Over 1,200 projects have been approved for funding of €25 million under CLÁR since I relaunched the programme in 2016.

I have indicated a review of the CLÁR programme which will examine CLÁR areas by reference to the 2016 Census of Population data. This review will also help to inform future CLÁR programmes in 2019 and beyond. Decisions regarding specific measures which might be supported under the CLÁR programme in 2019 will be made early next year.

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