Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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474. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the budget allocations for the plan for rural development in 2016, 2017 and 2018. [50941/17]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Action Plan for Rural Development was launched in January 2017. The Plan was developed as a key instrument to manage the co-ordination of activities across Government which support rural development.   

The Action Plan focuses on supporting sustainable communities, supporting enterprise and employment, maximising our rural tourism and recreation potential, fostering culture and creativity in rural communities, and improving rural infrastructure and creativity. 

The Plan contains 276 practical actions for delivery across a range of Government Departments, State agencies, and other organisations, with clear timeframes for delivery.  The responsibility for funding and delivery of the individual actions rests with the relevant Department for each action.   

From my own Department’s perspective, key initiatives to support rural development include the LEADER programme, the Town and Village Renewal Scheme, Rural Recreation Schemes, the Local Improvement Scheme and the CLÁR programme. The allocation for the Rural Development and Regional Affairs programme area of my Department's Vote for 2017 is €80.364 million.  The 2018 Estimate allocation for this programme area is €93.2 million, representing an increase of 16% year-on-year. 

In addition, many of the initiatives in the Community Development programme area of my Department's Vote will support rural, as well as urban communities.  These include the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP), the Community Facilities scheme, and the Senior Alerts scheme.