Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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300. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the total current and capital expenditure allocated to the town and village renewal scheme in 2015, 2016 and the amount allocated in 2017, in tabular form; the total amount of funds expended to each year to date in 2016; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40793/16]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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In September 2015, the previous Government announced plans for a fund of €30 million over a six year period for a Town and Village Renewal scheme. While no expenditure was incurred on the scheme in 2015, the current Government included a commitment in the Programme for a Partnership Government to support the development of rural towns and villages as part of its drive to revitalise rural Ireland.

On 9 August this year, I launched the Town and Village Renewal Scheme with an allocation of €10 million in capital funding for 2016. This represented a significant increase on the €4 million baseline in my Department’s Vote for 2016. A sum of €380,000 was made available to each of the 26 counties 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 Department by the end of September for approval.

Following an assessment of the proposals received, on 4th November I announced details of 172 towns and villages which were approved for funding under this year’s scheme. The total amount allocated through these approvals is €9.865 million.

I have secured increased funding of €12 million for an enhanced Town and Village Renewal scheme as part of Budget 2017.