Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

194. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development when the €1 million in funding secured for local improvement schemes in County Cork will be made available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8911/18]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

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.

There has been very little funding available for this scheme in recent years due to constraints on public expenditure. However, I was very conscious of the underlying demand for the scheme in rural areas throughout the country.

I therefore announced the provision of €10 million to Local Authorities for a Local Improvement Scheme last September. Based on demand and the capacity of Local Authorities to complete works before the end of 2017, I allocated an additional €7.4 million to Local Authorities for LIS roads at the end of November.

€1 million was allocated to Co. Cork under the first LIS allocation in September 2017. An additional €151,985 was allocated to Co. Cork under the second round of allocations, bringing the overall allocation for Cork to €1,151,985 in 2017. Cork County Council drew down €1,055,313 of that allocation by the payments deadline of 31st December 2017.

It is clear that there is a continuing demand for LIS funding in rural communities across Ireland, and I have therefore secured an allocation of €10 million for the scheme in my Department's Estimate for 2018. I intend to announce details of the 2018 scheme, including the allocations for each county, later this month.