John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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431. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht following the publication of the action plan for housing and homelessness four months ago the progress made to date on action 5.12; the details of the funding that has been made available as part of the town and village renewal initiative; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35111/16]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Action 5.12 of the Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness contains a commitment that my Department and the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government will work together to provide funding for a range of demonstration projects across the country as part of the Town and Village Renewal Initiative. The objective of this action is to support the revitalisation of towns and villages and increase their attractiveness and sustainability as places to live and work.

On 9 August 2016, 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 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 for a range of demonstration projects. The full list of towns benefiting under the scheme is available on my Department’s website at the following link:

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. As part of an enhanced scheme in 2017, I intend to include a pilot initiative to encourage increased residential occupancy in town and village centres in line with commitment 5.12 in the Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness. My Department will work closely with the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government in finalising the details of this initiative.