Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

The CLÁR programme is an important funding stream for many of our most rural areas. In recent years, it has funded a vast array of community amenities, including community centres, sporting facilities, playgrounds, sensory gardens and walking trails. It has also provided funding for vehicles used to transport people with disabilities to access vital cancer services among others. Since 2020, over €53 million has been approved for almost 1,300 projects nationwide under the programme. I launched the 2025 programme in April inviting applications under three measures. Measure 1 of the programme supports the development of community facilities and amenities. Measure 2 provides support for the provision of vehicles to transport people with mobility issues or for cancer treatment, for community first responders and for meals on wheels. Measure 3 aims to support communities on our offshore islands in line with the Department’s policy for the development of our inhabited offshore islands, Our Living Islands. Last month I announced funding of €1.7 million under measure two for the provision of 32 vehicles to support first responders, meals on wheels and mobility transport providers.

We are concluding the assessment of applications received under measures one and three, and I look forward to announcing successful projects across these measures before the end of 2025. We are pleased to have secured an additional €1m as part of the budget for CLÁR 2026. This will bring the 2026 allocation to €12 million, which is a doubling of the CLÁR budget over the past five years. The Minister of State and I will review the measures to be included under CLÁR 2026, and the associated levels of funding. We will launch the programme for 2026 in quarter 1 of next year.

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