Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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564. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the reason persons living in the rural areas of Galway city and Cork city councils were not eligible to lodge applications under the 2017 local improvement scheme; the reason funding was not made available under the scheme to these local authorities; his plans to amend this rule in respect of the 2018 scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5452/18]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) is a programme for improvement works on small private/non-public roads and has been funded in the past by the Department of the Environment and Local Government and subsequently by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.

Funding for the LIS was limited in recent years due to constraints on the public finances. However, I recognised that there was a demand for the scheme across the country and, last year, I allocated €17.4 million to the scheme. The scheme was based on previous guidelines governing the LIS, and in particular, the Local Improvement Scheme Memorandum 2002, issued by the then Department of the Environment and Local Government.

The Memorandum outlines in detail the conditions governing the payment of grants to County Councils only, in respect of projects carried out under the LIS. City Councils are not referenced in the Local Improvement Scheme Memorandum 2002.

The LIS provided much-needed support to people and businesses in rural areas in 2017 and I have allocated a further €10 million for the scheme this year. Within the resources available to me, I currently have no plans to revisit the eligibility conditions outlined in the Local Improvement Scheme Memorandum 2002 for 2018.