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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 59 and 75 together.

The rural regeneration and development fund provides funding for the development and construction of significant and transformative capital projects in towns, villages and rural areas across Ireland. The fund is central to achieving the objectives and key deliverables of the Government's five-year policy for rural Ireland, Our Rural Future: Rural Development Policy 2021-2025. At the heart of Our Rural Future is a commitment to revitalising towns and villages across rural Ireland, making them more attractive places to live, work, raise a family and invest. The projects supported by the fund assist in the regeneration of rural towns and villages, including by addressing vacancy and dereliction and positioning them for further growth through regeneration and town centre renewal. The fund also invests in strategic projects that contribute to further economic development in rural areas.

I have been fortunate to see first-hand many projects supported by the fund during my time as Minister and I have seen the real benefits they are delivering to rural communities. Calls for applications to the fund are sought under two categories, category 1 and category 2. Category 1 relates to large ambitious capital projects with all necessary planning and other consents in place which are ready to proceed, that is, shovel ready. Category 2 provides smaller grant funding to enable the development of project proposals suitable for future calls for category 1 applications.

Since the RRDF was established in 2018, funding of €409 million has been approved for 215 projects. When matching funding is included the total value of these projects is €560 million. Since my appointment as Minister for Rural and Community Development in June 2020, funding of more than €111 million has been drawn down from the fund. The table sets out the monthly drawdowns since June 2020, as requested by the Deputy.

Month	2020	2021	2022	2023
Jan		€253,614.82	€306,058.54	€12,166.00
Feb		€59,690.47	€56,858.30	€1,753,192.64
Mar		€4,653.33	€1,716,288.80	€1,817,331.07
Apr		€148,201.94	€755,022.11	€2,606,230.92
May		€659,018.79	€1,922,755.07	€738,930.65
Jun	€1,046,643.51	€1,330,800.26	€1,168,210.96	€1,513,615.69
Jul	€274,679.06	€133,307.03	€1,804,356.79	€1,189,578.10
Aug	€368,247.48	€416,226.38	€2,259,758.58	€3,580,130.01
Sep	€388,730.67	€951,516.19	€2,692,276.63	€1,876,330.49
Oct	€17,772,948.08	€1,672,109.81	€9,386,932.49
Nov	€7,880,064.01	€8,992,525.13	€8,063,400.81
Dec	€8,739,232.66	€9,431,640.85	€6,129,782.63
Total	€36,470,545.47	€24,053,305.00	€36,261,701.71	€15,087,505.57

The budget for the RRDF in 2023 is €60 million and an additional €10.5 million of capital carryover. I remain committed to ensuring this vital funding can deliver real and transformative change in towns across rural Ireland. Underlying this is the need to ensure delivery on the ground. To this end, I have outlined to local authorities the priority I attach to the delivery of these projects and have asked my officials to ensure there is an ongoing process of engagement with the local authorities to ensure strong and timely delivery.

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