Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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78. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the spend to date in 2022 under the RRDF; the total amount of the allocation in the Estimates to this fund for 2022; the value of projects approved for funding in 2022; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53740/22]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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What is the spend to date in 2022 under the RRDF? Does that take into account money carried over from last year? What is the total amount of the allocation in the Estimates for the fund for 2022?

I also ask the Minister to outline the total amount of the allocation in the Estimates for the fund in 2022 and the value of the projects approved for funding in 2022. This is important because, notoriously, there is underspending in respect of most of these schemes. What we are finding with the capital budgets at the end of each month is that there is a crazy level of underspending.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Ó Cuív for raising this matter. The RRDF provides funding for the development and construction of capital projects in towns and villages and rural areas across Ireland. The fund has to date allocated funding of €280 million for 191 projects across the country worth a total of €380 million. The RRDF is central to achieving the objectives and key deliverables of Our Rural Future, the Government's five year policy for rural Ireland. The projects supported by the fund assist in the regeneration of rural towns and villages 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.

The 2022 allocation for the RRDF is €60 million. There is also a carry forward from 2021 of €9 million which can be utilised across the wider programme area depending on the level of demand. The total spend to date in 2022 from the fund is €20.3 million, with significant levels of further funding draw downs expected before year end. In January, I announced funding of €24.5 million for 27 projects from the third call for category 2 applications. Category 2 provides smaller grant funding to enable the development of project proposals suitable for future calls. The fourth call for category 1 applications to the RRDF, which are the large scale capital projects with planning in place, closed earlier this year. I expect to be in a position to make a substantial announcement on the successful projects arising from that call in the coming weeks. This will further strengthen the pipeline of projects to be delivered under the fund for the coming years.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for that information. What she is saying is that €69 million was available for spending this year but that only €20.3 million has been spent to date, which means that €49 million is left to be spent in two months. I ask the Minister to explain how it is that in ten months of the year only €20 million has been spent, when the Department had budgeted for far more. No doubt the Minister went fighting to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and told him that she needed a lot of money for this scheme. I ask the Minister to explain why the spending under this scheme is so slow. Is the infernal habit repeating itself whereby local authorities send in their bills at the end of the year?

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Every time I meet local authorities, and I meet them fairly often, I continue to put pressure on them to get the money spent. As I said to them yesterday, if they do not spend the money, it is very hard for me to make the case for more money. Deputy Ó Cuív will appreciate that because there are always competing demands at budget time. The budget for this year is €69 million. We have spent more than €20 million so far, but I expect significant levels of draw down before Christmas. As the Deputy knows, the bills do tend to come in towards the end of the year.

I have taken steps to use savings in other areas this year already. For example, I transferred money into LIS. I was also able to provide some additional funding for the community centres fund and I expect much of that money will be drawn down very quickly because the grants in the first tranche are relatively small.

I assure Deputy Ó Cuív that I am continually putting pressure on local authorities to spend the money available.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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What the Minister is actually telling me is that there was €60 million available this year. A sum of €20 million has been spent. When we take the €9 million out of that, however, the Department has actually only spent €11 million of this year's allocation, which is a very small percentage after ten months. The Minister said the Department will spend "a significant amount" between now and the end of the year. That phrase suggests to me that the Department might not know what will be spent. What is the Department's estimate of what will be spent between now and the end of the year, which is only really five or six weeks away when one takes the Christmas period into account?

Does the Minister foresee a carry forward once again, even though people are screaming for money under schemes like LIS? Does she foresee a significant carry forward by her Department of capital funding into next year?

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I expect to see significant spending in November and December. Some of these projects are taking longer than anybody would like. They have had problems with supply chains. One project is awaiting a particular piece of equipment before it can be finished and we are seeing that right across the board. I am putting the pressure on constantly. When one sees the finished projects, even if they take a bit longer than expected, they are well worth it. I was in New Ross a couple of weeks ago. The project there took a lot longer than they thought it would but my goodness, it is some project. They have regenerated the centre of the town. Sometimes there are delays with the large-scale projects but they are very impactful, in terms of making a real difference in town centres.

It is too early to say exactly what the savings will be this year but I am trying to keep any carry over to the bare minimum. Like Deputy Ó Cuív, when he was in this Department, I am trying to keep the spending going and the pressure on.