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

The town and village scheme is close to my heart because I first established it when I had responsibility for the rural development brief in 2016. I am glad to see that it has gone from strength to strength. It has seen millions of euro invested in rural towns and villages across the country. It has a bottom-up approach where communities are able to engage with one another, identify what they want to do in their towns and submit applications for funding.

We originally had a budget of €15 million for the scheme. I have since got an extra €10 million, bringing the total package up to €25 million this year. The €10 million has been allocated to the accelerated measures. There are good things being done, for example, providing outdoor seating, enhancing community centres to allow remote working and adapting community spaces. As the Deputy mentioned, outdoor cinemas are becoming popular. Some towns are organising them. Others are widening their footpaths to make them safe for social distancing.

There are 226 projects involved, with approximately €6 million spent to date. There is still €4 million in the budget.

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