Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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81. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the efforts his Department is making to increase the resourcing of local improvement schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14571/25]

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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I ask the Minister about the efforts that his Department is making to increase the resourcing of local improvement schemes and make a statement on it. In Kerry in particular over the past eight years, 225 roads have been improved but that is about 30 per year and, as the Minister probably knows, there are 500 roads on the list, which means it will be 25 or 30 years before we will get to all of the roads on the list.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The local improvement scheme supports improving non-public rural roads and laneways not usually maintained by local authorities. Since its re-establishment in 2017, almost €170 million has been provided by the Government to local authorities under the scheme.

In recent years, my Department has increased the year-on-year base funding for the scheme and has redirected savings from other areas of the Department to the scheme as they have arisen. In April 2024, €40 million in funding was announced for the scheme across all local authorities to cover 2024-25. As the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, said, we have recently opened the 2025 scheme and invited local authorities to submit their lists of priority roads for completion in 2025.

Since 2017, Kerry has been allocated a total of €10.37 million in local improvement scheme funding. This figure includes the 2024-25 allocation of €2.57 million.

Each year my Department carries out a review of the scheme to ensure allocations across local authorities are made as fairly and efficiently as possible. My departmental officials also work with local authorities to ensure that funding is fully utilised each year.

Our Rural Future sets out that the Government will continue to invest in the local improvement scheme. I am personally committed to it and see the value of it in my county as well as in Kerry. We are endeavouring to get extra resources into it to ensure the backlog, as discussed between the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, and Deputy Charles Ward, is addressed. We are awaiting from each council a list of priorities for 2025. They set those priorities.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for the reply.

By way of context, a lot of people in County Kerry, from various areas such as Listry, Astee, Ballyconry, Ballyduff and Dromod in south Kerry, have been asking me about this. There has been a certain amount of kite-flying over the last few months by Government-supporting Independent TDs who have been announcing that there has been an increase in money for the local improvement schemes. However, from the statistics the Minister has quite generously provided to me we see the 2024 allocation is €2.569 million for 2024 and 2025, but the 2024 spend was €1.747 million. When one subtracts the 2024 figure from the allocation for the scheme in 2024-25 we are left with €821,000 for 2025, which is a decrease of 52% on what was previously allocated by the Government. Will the Minister confirm that there has been a decrease in the spend assigned for rural roads in Kerry as opposed to the increase that was flagged recently?

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I am not going to confirm anything at this stage. We have opened the scheme and are looking through the applications. One thing that worked in my Department under the previous Minister, Heather Humphreys, is that we allocated money to it from savings in the Department. The Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, and I have asked that this continue. I am engaging with the Minister for Transport, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, regarding funding from that Department because the LIS is really important. We introduced changes to try to make it more open to people this year.

I also draw attention to the fact that some local authorities spend it differently and seem to spend it more efficiently than others. I am looking at the amount spent per kilometre of road. We will be doing a little bit more work on that with the local authorities. For instance, one local authority spends €15.60 per square metre, while another spends €49.15. This is a relatively small island. I know there are cost disparities but there cannot be that level of cost disparity. The average across local authorities is €31.19. I agree that different LIS and different roads require different budgets but I will be doing some work on this. I have asked my Department officials to do some work on those kinds of disparities between local authorities. Neither of those local authorities are in Kerry by the way. I want to get to understand them and I want to ensure we are getting value for money, given the substantial investment we are making.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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Going over the statistics since 2017, as the Minister referenced, it seems to me that Kerry County Council and the roads department there have been quite efficient. I believe that €5,000 less than the full allocation was spent in one of those years. It seems that it was €21,000 less than the full allocation in 2020. It does seem to me that when we subtract the 2024 amount from the combined 2024-25 figure, the actual amount allocated to Kerry has decreased, which is very unfortunate given the 30-year waiting list. I would like to have clarity that it is indeed the case, as indicated by the statistics, that the amount for Kerry has decreased rather than increased, which was the story going around County Kerry from some of the people who are supporting the Government.

Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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Four Members have indicated they would like to come in with a supplementary comment. I ask them to be really mindful of their time and to keep their contributions nice and short. They have a maximum of 30 seconds each.

Peter Cleere (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Since its introduction in 2027 the LIS has been hugely successful and it is massively oversubscribed. It is very important and there is a huge demand for it in my constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny. Additional funding will be required. In the context of next year's budget I implore the Minister to fight as hard as he can for rural towns and villages in my constituency such as Clara, Ballyhale, Windgap, Glynn, Rathanna, Ballinkillin, Drummin, Ballymurphy, Conahy, Muckalee, Pilltown, Glenmore, Fiddown, Mooncoin, Carrigeen and Skeaghvasteen. All have multiple applications to the scheme.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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What about Faugheen?

Peter Cleere (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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There is huge demand out there. It is a hugely successful scheme. If we could just get additional funding, it would be most welcome for those towns and villages in Carlow and Kilkenny.

Micheál Carrigy (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I feel the same with regard to the local improvement scheme, coming from the rural county of Longford. Significant funding has been provided in recent years through the Department when the previous Minister, Heather Humphreys, was in that role. If the Minister, Deputy Calleary, looks at his list he will see that every penny allocated to Longford County Council was spent. I wish to highlight that we have the capacity to get more roads done if additional funding is made available to the local authority. I thank the Minister.

Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Acting Chair for his consideration this morning. Rural roads in County Louth could not have enough money from the perspective of walkers, tourism and agriculture. My question relates to special circumstances, such as if there was an extreme weather event, for example. In the previous two years LIS funding was awarded to a particular road when it was damaged and decimated in an extreme weather event. In those circumstances, would the Department look fondly on them and give them money to make sure the road was brought up to a better standard?

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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I wish the Minister and the Minister of State well in their portfolios. The explanations are very worthwhile given the discrepancies in costs. Some counties' totals are quite alarming. Obviously drainage and topography will mean a lot.

I welcome the relaxing of the requirements relating to applications by individual households. The connectivity of the people in those houses on those little boreens out to the public roads is so important. These are the little people we always talk about. They are the people we represent and they do not get much by way of anything else. It is a great scheme. I appeal for more funding to be provided. Applications into Tipperary County Council are not being taken now. It is dealing with the 2024 list. Obviously money is probably a problem. Anything the Minister can do for them will be appreciated.

John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The local improvement scheme is one of the best schemes we have seen in terms of reaching corners of all parts of rural Ireland that may not necessarily have street lights or which may be waiting for broadband to be delivered. We should be encouraging councils to clear all their backlogs rather than breaking it down into districts or otherwise. If we can see a way to a situation where applications are sought, funding is provided and those lists are cleared, we must work in that regard. If we have a situation where districts are split, we can see waiting lists of years in some locations and a matter of months in others. We need to streamline it to ensure consistency right across counties.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I note the Members' participation and the interest in the scheme. It was reintroduced in 2017. Base funding has increased year on year since 2021. Last year an additional €10 million in funding was secured. The Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, and I will be monitoring capital expenditure across the Department to utilise any savings and LIS is a priority for us. I have engaged with the Minister for Transport, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and his Department on getting extra funding. Deputy McGreehan made a very solid point about storm and weather events. We have increased substantially the funding since 2021 to address that and to give councils the chance to address that. Ultimately, the councils submit their lists and they submit their roads to our Department, so it comes from within the council. With their local knowledge, they can identify what their priorities are. We really leave it to the councils, based on their local knowledge and their local priorities, to decide what they need to submit to us.