Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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241. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the amount of expenditure that has been incurred to date under the moneys sanctioned by him recently by each local authority on the local improvement scheme; the amount of funding including pre-funding paid to each local authority under the scheme; the latest date given to local authorities to have the work completed and appropriate certification made available to his Department in the case of pre-funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52467/17]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Last September, I announced the allocation of €10 million under the Local Improvement Scheme following consultation with Local Authorities on the level of demand for such a 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 announced a further allocation of €7.4 million at the end of November, based on the capacity of Local Authorities to complete further works by the end of the year. 

The table below details the amount of funding allocated to each county for the LIS scheme and the amount drawn down to 6th December 2017.

In line with the scheme criteria, funding can be drawn down on certification by a Local Authority that 50% of their works have been completed and that all works will be fully completed by 31st December 2017.  Local Authorities were asked to submit their certification to my Department by 1st December 2017 in relation to the second tranche of allocations, to facilitate the processing of payments.

To ensure that the LIS funding is utilised as planned, my officials are carrying out desk-based checks on the Local Authority returns. My Department's Inspection Services have also completed on-the-spot verification checks on LIS roads in a number of counties and were able to verify that works had been completed to the level certified. Further inspection and audit work on the LIS roads will be carried out in 2018. 

LIS 2017