Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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260. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if he will establish a humanitarian assistance scheme to support and assist the owners of private roads and lanes in north and east County Donegal that were devastated by the recent floods. [41219/17]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Government has provided financial support through the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection under the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme to meet the immediate needs of those directly impacted by the recent flooding in Co. Donegal.  The scheme provides assistance to affected householders in order to return their homes to a habitable condition.

Separately, I announced the provision of €10 million for a Local Improvement Scheme on 21 September.  This is a nation-wide scheme which supports improvement works on private and non-public roads.

My Department wrote to Local Authorities in August to establish the level of demand for an LIS scheme this year. The Local Authorities were advised that any requests for funds would be subject to their capacity to complete any proposed works in 2017, and funding availability.

It was not possible to fully support the level of demand which the Local Authorities stated they could deliver in 2017, but all eligible Local Authorities received a minimum of €250,000, with the exception of three Authorities who requested less than that amount.Co. Donegal was allocated €884,000, which was the third largest allocation under the LIS scheme for 2017.

It is a matter for the Local Authorities to determine which roads they wish to prioritise from the funding allocated to them.