Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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261. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if his attention has been drawn to the fact that Donegal County Council recently made a submission to his Department seeking more than €20 million in funding under the local improvement scheme following receipt of 1,300 applications from across the county; the level of funding which will be available for allocation to local authorities in 2018; and when these funds will be made available to local authorities. [41220/17]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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On 21 September I announced the provision of €10 million for a Local Improvement Scheme.  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.

I am aware that Donegal County Council submitted a list of potential works with a value of more than €20 million under the LIS.  However, not all of these works were deliverable in 2017.  The Council indicated that it could complete up to €1 million in works in 2017, or up to €2.5 million if other works in the county were reprioritised.

Within the budget available for 2017, it was not possible to fully support the level of demand which the Local Authorities stated they could deliver in 2017.  However, 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.

The level of funding available for the LIS scheme in 2018 will be considered in the context of the 2018 Budget and Estimates process.