Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this and articulating a strong case. Project Ireland 2040, which was launched by the Government on 16 February 2018, is the overarching policy and planning framework for the social, economic and cultural development of Ireland. It includes a detailed capital investment plan for the period 2018 to 2027, the national development plan, NDP, 2018-27, and the 20-year national planning framework, NPF.

The principles of the NPF are underpinned by the NDP, a ten-year, €116 billion capital investment programme. The NDP established four new funds, with a combined allocation of €4 billion to 2027. The urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, has an allocation of €2 billion to 2027, primarily to support the NPF’s growth enablers for the five cities and other large urban centres.

The URDF, which was launched in 2018, is providing part-funding for local authority-led projects that will enable a greater proportion of residential and mixed-use development to be delivered within the existing built-up footprints of our cities and large towns, while also ensuring that more parts of our urban areas can become attractive and vibrant places in which people choose to live and work, as well as to invest and to visit.

Too many of our large towns and cities have been blighted by rundown and poorly utilised areas. Through URDF support local authorities now have the opportunity to embrace the challenge to harness the untapped potential of these areas so that they contribute positively to our urban communities.

The URDF supported capital programme has been very well received, and already the URDF is providing assistance for this pipeline of major projects that will contribute to the regeneration and rejuvenation of Ireland’s five cities and other large towns. For the first time, the URDF provides planning authorities with the opportunity to coordinate their planned regeneration and rejuvenation of our large towns and cities with a stream of tailored significant Exchequer capital investment which will ensure that the right project is happening in the right place at the right time.

In 2019, approval in principle and provisional funding allocations issued in respect of the 87 major projects across the country, including a project for Dundrum, which was approved under call 1. Some €65,679 in URDF support was allocated to support the development of a community, cultural and civic action plan for Dundrum, to assess the current situation and make recommendations on future requirements. It is understood that the work has recently been completed on the action plan and my Department has requested a copy for review.

Under call 2 of the URDF, launched earlier this year, 76 proposals were received, with every local authority submitting at least one application, including a proposal from Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council for further support in respect of the Dundrum community, cultural and civic action hub. Many of the proposals received under call 2 are of significant scale and complexity and require careful evaluation and this process is in train.

I hear Deputy Richmond's very strong case for this specific project. I look forward to working with him on this. The URDF funding is very important for unlocking the potential of our areas and ensuring that they can be developed in a sustainable manner for the benefit of all. I assure him that his case will be taken on board both by myself and the departmental officials.

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