Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I should have mentioned in my last response that there is also, I said in my first response, my Department's investment in the community involvement scheme. Since the introduction of that ring-fenced funding in 2018, there has been a significant increase, with funding allocated in two-year tranches. Approximately €14.3 million was paid to local authorities for the community scheme last year. A new round of funding is starting this year for the 2022-23 period. While community contributions in the range of 15% to 30% had been required previously, depending on the mix of works and moneys, the contribution rate has now been reduced to a minimum of 10% for monetary contributions and 20% for work contributions. It is not that our Department does not have any involvement. Through that mechanism and through the Department of Rural and Community Development, what we spend on public roads and the new money we will spend on rural bus connectivity, I hope, will attract back those people who, as the Deputy said, are thinking of coming back to live in rural Ireland.

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