Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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24. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the status of the rural economic development zones, REDZ programme; when she expects to announce successful applicants under the programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37212/16]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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The question has been overtaken by events, as the Minister confirmed the REDZ allocations yesterday. I was particularly pleased to welcome the allocation of €100,000 to the tanyard project in my local village of Ballitore in south Kildare. This funding is in addition to the €25,000 allocated to Ballitore earlier in November under the town and village renewal scheme. This is positive news for the village and will allow the hard working Ballitore tanyard committee to proceed with its plans to refurbish the tanyard and make it a focal point for the village. The proposed project will result in the tanyard buildings being converted into a theatre performance space with meeting rooms, and toilet and kitchen facilities. The buildings date back to 1801 and sit in the heart of the village. I would be grateful if the Minister could outline in her response the next steps in the drawdown process for committees such as that in Ballitore, which are anxious to get working on their projects.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I launched a call for proposals under a new phase of the REDZ initiative on 21 September this year.

Following an assessment of the applications received under this call, I announced details of 41 successful proposals which have been allocated funding of just over €5.3 million in total for REDZ projects across the country yesterday.

REDZ are functional rather than administrative areas that reflect the spatial patterns of local economic activity and development. The central objective of the REDZ model is to utilise the synergies and interdependencies between rural towns and their outlying areas to generate local economic activity. One of the strengths of the REDZ model is that it encourages local authorities and other stakeholders to work across administrative boundaries with neighbouring counties and throughout their own region. The 2016 REDZ scheme, which I announced yesterday, is providing funding for projects of differing scale and ambition that share the mutual objective of supporting economic development in rural areas. The scheme also encourages collaboration between local authorities on larger projects. The projects approved represent a diverse range of ideas covering the length and breadth of Ireland and display a commitment to collaborative working to address the challenges facing rural areas. It is interesting that the project the Deputy mentioned in his area - Ballitore Tanyard development project - got some funding from the town and village renewal scheme. It has now been able to benefit from another €100,000. It is a project that is very close to the Deputy's heart and he has spoken to me on a number of occasions about it. It is certainly a very worthwhile project and it encompasses a whole range of different aspects in terms of theatre performance space. Deputy Shortall mentioned previously the lack of studio space. These types of projects can accommodate that.

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for her response. Ballitore is a very good example of a rural village that will benefit greatly from the REDZ scheme funding. The Tanyard has the potential to become a social and economic hub of activity for Ballitore and its rural hinterland hopefully bringing employment opportunities in tourism, crafts and retail. I will invite the Minister to come down and visit the site at some stage and hopefully meet with the committee because the Tanyard is situated in the heart of the village. It is a spot that in most villages is occupied by a local church or school. There are neither of these in Ballitore and it has suffered because of that. Ballitore is a village that used to be thriving with a lot of businesses in it but it has seen decline in recent years and some challenging demographics. It is a key area that needed this type of intervention. The Ballitore Tanyard committee has retained strong links with other community groups in the locality so this project now has the potential to revitalise an entire village. I ask the Minister to provide a bit of detail about the drawdown and how a committee like the Tanyard committee can move forward.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Regarding the REDZ programme I have given the local authorities funding with the approval of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The local authorities are empowered financially to start the work immediately and the Deputy should contact his local authority to ascertain when the work will commence. The money is available; it is there for them to start the work immediately on this project and I would like to think it will be started soon.

It was interesting to see that Ballitore was the first planned Quaker village in England and Ireland and remains one of the very few in Europe. I was in Philadelphia for the Famine commemorations and one of the Quakers there received an award because of the huge contribution the Quakers made to famine relief during the famine. It is interesting to see that Ballitore was the first planned Quaker village in England or Ireland.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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Is the Deputy happy with that reply?

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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There is real tourism potential here. The Minister has spoken about the Quaker and heritage element to this. Ireland's Ancient East is what we have in the east of Ireland now and I can see how the likes of Ballitore can nestle right into the heart of that. I acknowledge the role of the officials in Kildare County Council and in particular our local area manager, Joe Boland. Both myself and Councillor Ivan Keatley, the Mayor of Kildare, will continue to work with the Tanyard committee, as other local councillors will. This is phase one of a larger scale project and we look forward to working closely with the Department to see this money is well spent and to show exactly what the REDZ can do.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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That is exactly what the REDZ programme and the town and village enhancement programmes do. They work with local communities and local authorities. It is about identifying the projects that will best benefit from funding and how the communities can build on their strengths. The Deputy and I know, coming from rural Ireland, that there is huge energy and commitment in rural Ireland. This is about helping rural Ireland with funding to develop these projects which will bring long-term economic benefits in terms of tourism and heritage. That is the aim of this investment. That is what we want to continue to build on.