Gerard Murphy (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 1418: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if a person who applied for local improvement schemes and whose application was accepted before the change of regulations by his Department will be allowed to proceed with the application; and if he will make the new regulations retrospective. [25847/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Section 81 of the Local Government Act 2001 provides the statutory basis for the local improvements scheme, or LIS, and my Department's local improvements scheme memorandum, which issued in February 2002, sets out the current terms and conditions for the payment of LIS grants. Under the scheme, grants are provided to county councils for the construction and improvement of non-public roads which provide access to parcels of land of which at least two are owned or occupied by different persons engaged in separate agricultural activities, or provide access for harvesting purposes for two or more persons, or which will in the opinion of the county council be used by the public.

The administration of the scheme is a matter for the relevant county council. Each county council has responsibility for decisions regarding eligibility and subsequent selection and prioritisation of schemes, subject to the terms of the Department's memorandum and circulars. There is no proposal to amend the terms and conditions of the scheme.