Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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191. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if there are any grant aid programmes currently in operation within her Department or due to come online shortly which provide funding for assisting persons in the refurbishment of buildings in town centres for residential or commercial purposes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6229/17]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Government's Action Plan for Rural Development, which was launched on 23^rdJanuary, contains a number of measures which have the objective of rejuvenating Ireland's rural towns and villages to make them more attractive places in which to live and work, and to increase their tourism potential.

I will shortly be launching an enhanced Town and Village Renewal Scheme for 2017, and towns and villages to be included in this scheme will be selected through an application and assessment process. The scheme will be funded by my Department and administered by the Local Authorities.

As part of the Town and Village Renewal scheme, I intend to launch a pilot project to encourage residential occupancy in rural towns and villages. This pilot will be launched separately in the second half of the year, when details of the scheme have been finalised in consultation with relevant Departments. The pilot will examine ways in which properties that are currently not in use in town centres can be renovated to allow them to be used for residential purposes. The refurbishment of premises for commercial purposes will not be part of this scheme.