Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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522. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the amount the walks scheme costs per annum by county in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31354/18]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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My Department administers the Walks Scheme which was originally launched in March 2008. The Scheme was an innovative response to facilitating the development and maintenance of 39 of Ireland’s key walking trails. The Scheme currently includes 1,905 landholders as key participants in the provision of high quality walking trails by contracting them to undertake maintenance work on sections of National Waymarked Ways and other priority walks that traverse their lands. The landholders receive modest payments for maintenance work undertaken in line with agreed work plans.

Payments to landholders are disbursed through 16 Local Development Companies, who operate under a Service Level Agreement with the Department in respect of the delivery of a range of recreational services and the implementation of the Walks Scheme. Local Development Companies are also responsible for the purchase of materials used on the Walks in the Scheme.  

The cost of the scheme on an annual basis is in the region of €2.6 million. The table below outlines the costs by county for the implementation of the Scheme in 2017.  The costs include participants and materials payments, the cost of 12 Rural Recreation Officers (RRO) who are employed by Local Development Companies and are integral to the operation of the scheme, and administration fees to the Local Development Companies.  Not all Local Development Companies administering the scheme engage an RRO.

The figures provided below include a contribution of €60,000 by Fáilte Ireland towards the cost of funding the 12 RROs.

* LDC without RRO or €5k contribution from Fáilte Ireland

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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523. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of walkways and trails that have been maintained under the walks scheme per year since 2008; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31355/18]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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My Department currently administers the Walks Scheme, which was originally launched in March 2008. The scheme was an innovative response to facilitating the development and maintenance of many of Ireland’s key walking trails.

The table below outlines the number of walks funded under the Scheme since its inception in 2008.

Number of Trails maintained 2008-2018

The Programme for a Partnership Government and the Action Plan for Rural Development include a commitment to increase the number of trails covered by the Walks Scheme and my officials are working towards this objective.

I intend to initiate a comprehensive review of the scheme’s operation this year in order to determine how best to expand the scheme and maximise the impact of the resources available to me. I hope to be in a position, by the end of this year, to identify a number of priority walks/trails where the scheme will initially be expanded.