Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, for coming to Sligo last Friday. His trip was very informative and welcome. I also thank him for taking this Topical Issue on the community involvement scheme. The House, especially those of us who were members of our local authorities before being Members of the Oireachtas, will be aware that the CIS was fully embraced and taken up by many people living in rural communities. The scheme involves residents living around a section of public road putting forward that road under the scheme and paying a contribution of 10% towards the cost of resurfacing the road. Usually, the road selected sees a limited amount of public traffic and is not what the local authority calls "of strategic importance". In other words, it is not a road between two villages or towns. Nevertheless it is a public road and not a private road.

Over the past few years, funding under the CIS has been reduced by the Department of Transport. Many members of local authorities are disappointed by this trend and believe we should review the allocations under the 2024 roads funding to local authorities, which is due out in the next five or six weeks. We are all aware of the success of the local improvement scheme, which has received significant funding for private lanes. Funding has come from the Department of the Minister, Heather Humphreys, but we need more money from the Department of Transport. Last year, €30 million went to local authorities under the LIS, and now the scheme is fully subscribed, with a long waiting list. It is now time a similar funding budget was put forward for the CIS. Under the LIS we have done our bit, but we need to start a fund for some of these very important rural initiatives.

The CIS deals with public roads, roads programmes and schemes that are unable to proceed because of the demand to deal with other public roads with greater volumes of traffic.

In Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Donegal and many other counties, engineers acknowledge the success of the scheme in completing so many rural roads. Now, with a lot of money in the country, it is time funding was restored to allow the CIS to be rolled out across local authorities for the benefit of many people living in rural communities on small public roads.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as an gceist seo a ardú. I thank the Deputy for bringing the question forward. We were wandering the roads of Sligo together last Friday. I thank him for the hospitality shown to me last week.

I understand the Deputy’s question relates to the community involvement scheme which provides financial assistance to local communities for repairs and maintenance of local roads. As Deputy Feighan is aware and as outlined in the national development plan, the Government is strongly committed to protecting the existing regional and local road network. This network is fundamental for connecting people and places across the country. It facilitates business, education, tourism, healthcare, agriculture and the provision of critical services and activities. The network requires significant annual funding to ensure it remains fit for purpose, safe and resilient to the impact of additional factors such as climate change. As such, €626 million was allocated to regional and local road grants in 2023, with approximately 90% of this funding directed towards maintenance and renewal works. The regional and local road grants support local authorities in fulfilling their statutory responsibilities under the Roads Act 1993 to improve and maintain regional and local roads. The grants are provided to supplement local authorities' own resources, with each local authority responsible for selecting and prioritising road works within their regions and for managing their own budgets.

Ireland's regional and local road network spans over 96,000 km comprising almost 83,000 km of local roads. Due to the vast scale of the network, in 2018 the Department of Transport introduced ring-fenced funding for a community involvement scheme with the aim of facilitating local community participation in the repair of local roads. The primary focus of the programme is the repair of more lightly trafficked public roads which might not be high on the list of a local authority's annual roadwork programme. Since its introduction, the scheme has generated significant interest and has been used to support a variety of works including surface dressing projects, strengthening works, repair of potholes and drainage works. A condition of funding is that the local community must contribute towards the road project either with a monetary contribution or a contribution in kind, for example, by making labour or machinery available. Community contributions of at least 10% for monetary contributions or 20% for works contributions are required under the scheme. Typically, community work contributions involve activities such as providing hard stands at field entrances, removing grass verges, pothole repairs and the repair and construction of footpaths. In order to allow for sufficient planning and applications for the scheme, local authorities are invited to apply for funding for community involvement scheme projects for a two-year programme, with the latest round of applications received in 2023 for the 2024 to 2025 period. Within the overall budget available for the CIS grant programme over the two-year period, local authorities are allocated funding on a pro ratabasis unless an individual authority has sought less than the pro rataamount.

At this point, it is important to highlight that the Department has maintained a relatively constant level of funding for the scheme throughout its life span. On average, €28.33 million has been allocated to the scheme for each two-year programme. In the 2022 to 2023 programme, €28.48 million was allocated. Allocations for the 2024 to 2025 period are currently being finalised and are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

In summary, the Minister of Transport recognises the importance of the community involvement scheme to allow communities to access funds for repairs of more lightly trafficked public roads which might not be high on the list of a local authority's annual roadwork programme. In 2024, the Minister of Transport is committed to continuing support for the community involvement scheme, where possible from within resources available.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. I am happy that the Minister recognises the importance of the community involvement scheme and that it allows communities to access funds for repairs of more lightly trafficked public roads. I hope the upcoming budget will be more committed to continuously supporting the community involvement scheme because it is important. It is about residents living around rural sections of public roads so that those roads can be maintained and improved. I would like to see more funding for the community involvement scheme and a model that mirrors the local improvement scheme because it has been a huge success. As the Minister of State knows, living in rural Ireland, roads, particularly in rural areas, need as much assistance and upkeep as possible.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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As I recall from my time on a local authority, the LIS similarly was always oversubscribed. There are very good schemes just like the CIS. Given the scale of our rural roads network, demand will always exceed supply. We understand that the road network suffers deterioration over time and these impacts are felt by communities especially on more lightly trafficked public roads that serve local areas. In some instances, local authorities may not be able to fund regular maintenance on these routes from within their annual roadwork programme. For this reason, the Department of Transport established and continues to fund the community involvement scheme. It is an innovative scheme that builds on the success of what was previously the LIS. The scheme facilitates local community participation in the repair and maintenance of local roads in collaboration with local authorities. I take on board the points the Deputy made. Projects in his constituency such as the Old Bog Road in Wardhouse, Drumcollip in Mohill and Kilfree in Gurteen were funded under this scheme. These projects have been beneficial to local rural communities. The 2024 regional and local roads programmes will be finalised and associated funding supports will be allocated shortly, taking into account the budget available. The objective is to allocate funding to eligible local authorities on as equitable a basis as possible, keeping protection and the renewal of the road network to the fore. Included in this programme will be the allocation for the community involvement scheme for each county. We will await the allocation and hopefully it will be good news for local authorities throughout the country.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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There is one Topical Issue remaining. The Minister of State is here. We have taken three Topical Issues and, unfortunately, we cannot take the fourth so I will suspend the House.