Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I was here for the first Seanad Commencement matter this morning on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and I am here in the Dáil for the last matter this evening on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, as well.

I thank Deputy Griffin for raising this issue. I certainly recall that, during my time on Kilkenny County Council, the local improvement scheme was a hugely popular scheme and was always oversubscribed. There is no doubt it is a challenge to try to clear that list, as the Deputy said.

The local improvement scheme is a programme for improvement works on small private or non-public roads in rural areas which are not under the normal maintenance of the local authorities. As the Deputy is aware, the scheme is funded by the Department of Rural and Community Development and is administered through the local authorities. The focus of the scheme is to support the continued improvement of rural roads and laneways that are not normally maintained by local authorities but which represent a vital piece of infrastructure for rural residents, as the Deputy stated. I know how important the scheme is for people in rural areas, and for farm families in particular. There is no other source of funding for these roads, which provide vital access to agricultural lands and rural homes. The Deputy mentioned Castlemaine and the property owners themselves coming out to fill the potholes. It is a huge challenge. The scheme is also used to fund non-public roads leading to important community amenities, such as graveyards, beaches, piers, mountain access points or other tourist and heritage sites, which are very important in my own remit.

The Department provides an allocation of funding each year to the local authorities for works on these roads. The selection of roads to be funded under the scheme is then a matter for each local authority based on the priority or condition of particular roads in their county. The local authority may rely on existing lists of eligible roads and-or advertise for new applicant roads.

Individual applicants contribute towards the road projects. This can vary from 10% to 15%, depending on how many beneficiaries are on the particular road. This contribution is currently capped at €1,200 but the majority of beneficiary contributions are well below this figure.

Since the LIS was relaunched in its own right in 2017, almost €69 million has been allocated to local authorities for improvement works on these roads. As part of the Our Rural Future policy, the Government has committed to increasing the level of investment in the repair of non-public roads through the local improvement scheme. Given the value of the scheme for people living in rural areas, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, was pleased to be in a position to increase the allocation for the LIS this year. Funding for the scheme in 2021 increased by 5% to €10.5 million, although I accept that is not enough to cover the scale of the challenge we are talking about. Every local authority received an increase in its funding this year.

I confirm that the Minister is exploring the potential to allocate further funding from the scheme in the coming weeks if there are cost savings elsewhere in the Department of Rural and Community Development's budget. The Deputy made a good point about the responsibility and relationship between the three Departments that could share the burden. It will become an increasing challenge. We are dealing with increased weather events due to climate change, with deluges of rain throughout the year. This adds to the pressure on these local roads, especially where road surfaces are washed away, sometimes in a single rainfall incident. There is no doubt that this is a significant challenge and we should look at trying to increase support and funding for this across Government.

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