Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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308. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the details of the works that have been carried out by local authorities to date in 2017 with the funding that was pre-paid to them under the CLÁR and town and village enhancements schemes 2016; the value of this work; when it is expected that all of this work will be completed; if further approvals of work under these schemes will be given until this work is complete; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15193/17]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The 2016 CLÁR programme provided funding for the development of local infrastructure such as safety lights at rural schools, better road markings and pedestrian crossings close to community facilities, the provision of play areas and multi-use games facilities, and support for access roads to public amenities. The Town and Village Renewal Scheme provided funding for improvements to the public realm, tourism infrastructure, town health checks and other similar projects.

Table 1 below outlines, on a county-by-county basis, the amount of funding which the Local Authorities have reported as having been expended to the end of February 2017 under the Town and Village Renewal scheme and the CLÁR programme.

Progress on individual projects under these initiatives can sometimes be weather-dependent, while other projects may only be carried out at certain times of the year in order to minimise disruption to both schools and communities. Nonetheless, I will be impressing on all Local Authorities the need to have their projects completed as soon as possible. My Department is also engaging closely with the Local Authorities to ensure that all expenditure is in line with the Public Spending Code and that the funding is spent promptly and in accordance with project proposals.

The 2017 CLÁR and the Town and Village Renewal programmes will be launched shortly and the assessment process for applications submitted under these programmes will take into consideration the status of implementation of 2016 projects.

Table 1 – Expenditure by county: Town and Village Renewal Scheme and CLÁR programme