Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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140. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht when she expects to notify local authorities which applications under the town and village renewal scheme are to go ahead; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33985/16]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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On 9^thAugust this year, I launched the Town and Village Renewal Scheme with an allocation of €10 million in funding for this year. A sum of €380,000 was made available to each of the 26 counties for 2016 under this initial phase of the scheme. Local Authorities, in conjunction with local communities and businesses, were each invited to submit up to 8 proposals to my Departmentby the end of September for approval.

Following an assessment of the proposals received, on 4th November I announced the details of 172 towns and villages which will benefit from the funding available under this year’s Town and Village Renewal Scheme. The full list of towns benefiting under the scheme is available on my Department’s website at the following link:

My officials will be in contact with the relevant Local Authorities shortly to finalise arrangements and enter into funding agreements for the proposed projects.

Towns and villages are the heart of rural communities in Ireland and I am committed, through this scheme, to making them more attractive and more sustainable places in which to live and work. I have secured increased funding of €12 million for an enhanced Town and Village Renewal scheme as part of Budget 2017. This represents a trebling of the original 2016 baseline allocation of €4 million. Under the 2017 scheme, I intend to run a pilot to encourage increased residential occupancy in town and village centres. Details of this scheme are currently being prepared by my officials.