Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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262. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the timeframe for the review of the national local improvement scheme; if the existing eligibility criteria will be amended to include city councils in the scheme in view of the fact that they are not permitted to apply for funds from the existing scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28448/18]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Local Improvement Scheme (LIS), is a scheme for carrying out improvement works on private/non-public roads.  Often these roads lead to multiple residences, parcels of land that support agricultural activity, or to amenities such as lakes, rivers or beaches.

I reintroduced the LIS in September 2017 after a gap of 8 years.  The scheme is currently funded by my Department in conjunction with the County Councils.  The Councils administer the scheme, select individual roads for improvement, and carry out the works. To date, I have approved funding of over €28 million under the scheme, which will benefit over 1,100 LIS roads across rural Ireland. 

The scheme currently operates under the criteria outlined in a 2002 Memo issued by the then Department of the Environment and Local Government.  Under the provisions of that Memo, the scheme applies to County Councils only.

My Department intends to carry out a review of the LIS later this year, and will consider in that context whether the scheme should be extended to include City Councils.