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

The local improvement scheme, LIS, supports the improvement of rural roads and laneways that are not normally maintained by local authorities. As part of Our Rural Future, the Government is committed to ensuring the scheme is funded into the future.

The LIS was reintroduced in 2017 following a number of years with no dedicated funding in place. The scheme is administered locally by the relevant local authority, which is responsible for prioritising and selecting eligible applications within broad parameters set by my Department. Following the launch of the LIS with the confirmation of county allocations, each local authority submits a priority list of roads, as well as a reserve list to my Department before works commence locally.

From 2017 to 2021, my Department allocated €80 million towards improvement works on more than 3,000 non-public roads and lanes benefiting over 13,000 landowners and residents in these rural areas. I was pleased, as part of budget 2022, to announce an increase in the base funding for the LIS from €10.5 million to €11 million this year. I announced details of the 2022 scheme in early April and approvals have now been issued for works to commence to all but one local authority. Last year, I was in a position to double the initial LIS allocation to €21 million following the identification of savings in other capital areas. This year, I am continuing to monitor expenditure patterns closely. Should savings emerge, I will certainly give consideration to allocating additional funding to the scheme again.

On the issue of funding, different local authorities have different criteria. Some are open to new applications in respect of the numbers on the list, while others are working their way through historical lists on a first come, first served basis. Some local authorities only include eligible applications in their returns to my Department and others appear to include all historical applications. It is hard to get exactly correct data but my officials are working on these issues.

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