Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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231. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the spend on urban regeneration in each year since 2011; and the amount allocated for 2018, in tabular form. [9172/18]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Spending specific and exclusive to an “urban regeneration” heading did not take place in my Department during the years in question. However, I have set out below the expenditure incurred under the National Regeneration Programme which operates under my Department’s Social Housing Capital Investment Programme.

My Department currently supports a programme of large-scale regeneration projects in Dublin, Cork and Limerick and smaller projects in Tralee, Sligo and Dundalk under this National Regeneration Programme. These projects seek to address the causes of disadvantage in these communities through a holistic programme of physical, social and economic regeneration. Projects being funded under the Programme target the country’s most disadvantaged communities, including those defined by the most extreme social exclusion, unemployment and anti-social behaviour. €61 million in Exchequer funding is being provided under this programme in 2018.

The expenditure on the National Regeneration Programme over the period 2011-2017 is set out in the table below

In terms of urban regeneration specifically, and as announced in Budget 2018, a programme of €50 million in Exchequer funding, supplemented by an additional minimum 50% contribution from local authorities, is being introduced to support projects and initiatives to regenerate and revitalise depopulated urban areas and facilitate more compact urban growth. An initial €10 million is being made available in 2018 to get the programme underway. A key aim will be to maximise linkages with other programmes designed to bring vacant properties back into use.

In terms of the wider context, expenditure on urban regeneration was traditionally made through the Regional Operational Programmes, with the Urban and Village Renewal Measures involving a total planned EU and Exchequer co-financed expenditure of €154 million from 2000-2006. Budgetary constraints arising from the downturn in the economy caused the subsequent programme (2007-2013) to be deferred.

In the current programme covering the period 2014-2020, a Designated Urban Centre Grant Scheme is providing for investments in sustainable urban development, co-funded by the EU Regional Development Fund (with a contribution of €40 million) and the local authorities, in the order of €128 million over the 7-year period. This programme is supporting the delivery of 24 sustainable urban capital works projects around Ireland, which are expected to be completed by 2019, for the lasting benefit of local communities and improved quality of urban living.

Under Project Ireland 2040, my Department has been allocated responsibility for developing the €2 billion urban regeneration fund which will support delivery of the National Planning Framework's (NPF) growth enablers for cities and other large urban centres. Specific projects/activities under the fund have not yet been identified, and Departments and local authorities will be invited to make joint competitive bids for seed funding that will leverage other public and private investment, based on proposals that meet some or all of the criteria as set out in the NPF.