Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the House. The local area improvement scheme was introduced last year by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. To be fair, the Department operates many such schemes in conjunction with local authorities. I am not sure how much was made available for this scheme, but I think it was €7 million. It equipped the local authority with small budgets so that it could engage in a co-operative fashion with local community groups in an effort to make the environment cleaner and improve public areas. The scheme proved successful in Clare because it enabled Clare County Council to enter into partnership arrangements with community groups that improved public areas in a way that the council would not necessarily have had the resources to do. The budget that Clare County Council got would have worked if it had been spent on one project. Instead, it decided to split up the funding and distributed grants, as far as I am aware, to community groups. As a result, the council got a much greater bang for its buck. The scheme has been great.

I do not believe there has been an announcement of a follow-on scheme for this year. Given the fact that the scheme was so successful last year, I urge the Minister to announce a similar scheme for this year.

Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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I thank the Senator for raising such an important scheme, of which I am a huge supporter. I thank him for providing me with the opportunity to address the House on the success of the public area enhancement scheme.

As the Senator is aware, in March of last year the then Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government announced that a sum of approximately €3 million would be made available to local authorities for a dedicated public area enhancement scheme.

Following on from the success of The Gathering in 2013, towns and cities across the country were hoping for another successful tourist season in 2014. Last year was a challenging year for local authorities in terms of managing their public spaces due to the exceptionally inclement weather conditions experienced. In light of this, the Minister announced that additional once-off funding was to be provided to support the efforts of local authorities to maintain and present their public areas. The Minister was conscious that this effort would maximise the economic benefits that would result from increased visitors to towns, cities and counties and enhance the overall experience of those visitors.

The public area enhancement scheme supported community efforts by providing grant funding to local authorities for the purpose of enhancing public areas before and during the summer tourist season. The scheme provided funding for such work which was additional to that provided in 2014 in local authority budgets.The provisional grant to local authorities under the scheme was conditional upon 25% matching funding being provided by the local authorities themselves. While funds were provided to city and county councils only, town and borough councils were also assisted in their efforts to improve and enhance their public spaces by the respective county councils.

The Department was not prescriptive in the works to be undertaken. Suggestions included the provision of additional support for initiatives such as local tidy towns committees, improvement works to public parks and recreational walking areas, cleaning and tidying of older graveyards, and cleaning and making safe derelict buildings. Local authorities were asked to undertake works in co-operation with local community efforts, wherever possible. The scale and variety of work undertaken by councils demonstrated the success of the scheme, with all local authority areas benefiting from the enhancements.

As the scheme was conceived in response to the extreme weather experienced in 2014, it was designed to be a once-off intervention. The question of whether the scheme may have a role to play in the future will be kept under review by the Minister, having regard to the needs that may arise and the available resources.

Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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It was probably wishful thinking on my part to hope the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, might come here today and announce a new scheme.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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One should always follow one's dreams.

Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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I appreciate the Minister of State's response and her support for this very useful scheme. It would be nice to see it being run again this year.

Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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I have some additional information which may be of benefit to the Senator. I will give it to him before I leave the Chamber.