Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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117. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht when she will release the €10 million available to local authorities under the town and village renewal scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31066/16]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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On 9th August this year, I launched the Town and Village Renewal Scheme as part of the Government’s programme to support rural development. I have allocated €10 million in capital funding for the scheme this year. Local Authorities, in conjunction with local communities and businesses, were invited to submit proposals to my Department by the end of September for approval.My officials are currently assessing the 172 applications received under the scheme and these assessments will be completed by the end of October. Funding will be released to all approved projects once the assessments are complete.

The Town and Village Renewal scheme is just one of a range of measures in the Programme for a Partnership Government which will support rural development.Some of the other initiatives which have been announced by my Department recently include:

- the new 2014-2020 LEADER programme which has a budgetary allocation of €250 million over the lifetime of the programme;

- a new round of Rural Recreation project funding, with total approvalsof €4.5 million to 75 projects across the country;

- the re-opening of the CLÁR programme, with funding of €3 million for this year;

- the launch of a new round of the REDZ (Rural Economic Development Zone) initiative with €5 million in funding for this year; and

- the establishment of two Regional Broadband Action Groups, involving all of the Local Authorities in the country, to prepare for the roll-out of broadband under the National Broadband Planonce contracts are awarded in 2017.

It is my intention to build further on these initiatives next year, as reflected in the €18 million increase in funding for rural programmes announced for my Department in Budget 2017.