Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this issue today. I welcome the allocation of €411,000 for Limerick City and County Council for the local improvement scheme. It demonstrates the Minister's and Government's commitment to the continuing development and improvement of rural Ireland. It was one of the major issues during the crash. Under the previous Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government, discretionary spending on rural and tertiary roads was all wiped. We did not have the money. Now that the economy is in a state of recovery and we are looking to spread that recovery, it should be recognised. I want to put on the record of the House that I recognise the Minister's commitment to it. Given his background, he will excel in the job and he is extremely committed to it. The €411,000 for the local improvement scheme is welcome. It is a rural scheme for the improvement of private roads on which there are two or more landowners. They can avail of the scheme to surface-dress the road as opposed to fully reconstructing it. The landowners try to maintain it as best they can but the roads can deteriorate over time and it is a period of time before they are resurfaced. There are a number in Limerick City and County Council at the moment. There are 54 on the list. Given the current costs, this €411,000, will do a further 12 roads, up to 20% extra, which is extremely welcome.

They have escalated the issue to me and suggested that the deadline for the uptake of the money might be extended because it can be challenging to surface-dress these roads in the winter months. They are not being reconstructed and are predominantly being surface-dressed. They request extending the deadline for drawing down the money to allow that surface-dressing to take place in spring or summer as that is when I have been told the discretionary spending on the local improvement scheme takes place in Limerick. We cannot guarantee the weather, which may be good in November. However, they seek an extension of time to allow the surface-dressing take place in 2018.

As a Deputy for County Limerick, I welcome the allocation of €411,000 for Limerick. It shows a further commitment to the development of rural areas. I look forward to the Minister's reply.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising the issue and I also thank him for his kind comments. He is quite correct in saying that the local improvement scheme, LIS, is a very important scheme for rural areas. As the Deputy will be aware, the Taoiseach and I announced the provision of €10 million for a local improvement scheme for 2017 at the National Ploughing Championships last week. The scheme supports improvement works on private and non-public roads. Often these roads lead to multiple residences, parcels of land that support agricultural activity, or public amenities such as lakes, rivers or beaches.

My Department wrote to local authorities in August to establish the level of demand for a local improvement scheme this year. The local authorities were clearly advised that any requests for funds would be subject to their capacity to complete any proposed works in 2017 and funding availability.

The scheme was launched on 21 September on the basis of the information received back from the local authorities. It was not possible to support fully the level of demand which the local authorities stated they could deliver in 2017, but all eligible local authorities received a minimum of €250,000, with the exception of the three authorities that requested less than that amount. It is now a matter for the local authorities to determine which roads they wish to prioritise from the funding allocated to them.

As Minister for Rural and Community Development, I am very much aware of the importance of the local improvement scheme. The roads covered by the scheme give access to homes, farmyards, agricultural land and business premises, and are often heavily used. However, because they fall outside direct local authority control, many need upgrading. For emergency services too, bad road surfaces can lead to delays in accessing sites and tending to people in need.

We have not been in a position to fund the local improvement scheme adequately in recent years, but we have now honoured the commitment in A Programme for a Partnership Government and in the Action Plan for Rural Development to reinstate the scheme.

Given the consultation which my Department engaged in with the local authorities in determining what they could deliver in 2017, I urge local authorities to implement the programme and spend the money allocated to them without delay.

The priority is to fund projects which can be completed during 2017 and I am not in a position to extend the deadline for the drawdown of moneys if we are to achieve this objective. The timeline was highlighted to the local authorities prior to their submission of expressions of interest.

Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his reply which provides clarification on the issue. I outlined a suggestion that came through and I take on board the Minister's comments. The message that needs to go out from here today is that the local improvement scheme is back. We are now hitting that list again and 20% of that list will be knocked off in County Limerick. We need to build on that and make a case for funding to address tertiary roads in coming years, as was done in the past.

I understand the challenges the Government has regarding funding. There is a commitment to rural areas through the Department of Rural and Community Development. We recently saw what Culture Night did to invigorate certain areas, including Bruree, Rathkeale, Newcastle West, Abbeyfeale and Kildimo in County Limerick. I know the town and village renewal scheme will be coming up. Rathkeale, which has a unique socioeconomic background, would be greatly enhanced by such schemes. I look forward to its roll-out. As late as this week we heard that Eir is continuing to roll out rural broadband to 300,000 houses, including in County Limerick. We know we are down to two bidders for the roll-out of the State broadband of the remaining 500,000. The Government is acting on what it is saying. It is putting things in place because the economy is now able to afford it. That is the bottom line. The heavy lifting that was done by the Government and by the people is now starting to make this happen.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I again thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue for rural areas. He is correct in saying the LIS is very important for people in rural areas. People pay their taxes, including property tax. In some cases these people provide their own water and pay for it themselves, and they are entitled to have a scheme such as this. I am delighted that this scheme was opened this year. The programme for Government made a commitment to open the scheme. We have honoured that commitment and we will continue with that scheme next year.

We talked to the local authorities. They requested that they could spend the money this year and I hope they will. County Limerick got €411,000; it had sought €1.716 million. I know the local authority will spend that money by the end of the year to address badly needed road repairs. As I said in my reply, these are roads people, in some cases ambulance drivers, doctors and nurses, use on a daily basis. Therefore these schemes are very important and this particular LIS is a very important scheme.

In the past year we have opened up the CLÁR programme. The town and village scheme is up and running as is the rural recreation scheme. Many schemes that assist rural areas are now operating. Next year we will be into a new year. I hope the local authorities will actually spend whatever funding they got this year. Councillors and others are crying out for funding for rural areas; when they get it they should spend it.