Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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26. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of applications made under the rural regeneration and development fund to date per category; the number of applications granted funding per category; the funding approved for the scheme in 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3030/19]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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30. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the projects approved to date in each county under the rural regeneration and development fund; when the next tranche of projects will be approved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2826/19]

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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38. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the way in which the rural regeneration and development fund will be delivered in the north west area of County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3003/19]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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39. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the allocation made to date in respect of the rural regeneration and development fund; when he plans to make a decision on the remaining applications submitted; when he plans to invite applications for funding purposes in 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2987/19]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 26, 30, 38 and 39 together.

The first call for applications for the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund closed at the end of September. €1 billion is committed to the Fund over a 10 year period to support rural economic development and help build strong communities with €55 million allocated to the fund in Budget 2019.

280 applications to the Fund were received by my Department, 126 Category 1 applications and 154 Category 2 applications.In total, 66 applications were for projects located in County Cork, 17 in Category 1 and 49 in Category 2. Applications for the Fund are currently being examined by the Project Advisory Board, made up of representatives from key Government Departments and external experts, which was established to oversee the assessment process. Category 1 "shovel ready" projects were prioritised in the assessment process and Category 2 projects - those which need development funding to become potential Category 1 applications in future calls for applications - are now also being considered.

I announced the first 18 successful Category 1 projects under the Fund on the 23rd November. The projects will receive €24.4 million from the Fund while unlocking a further €11 million in other funding, and all are ready to commence in 2019. The details are set out in Table 1.

A further announcement detailing successful Category 1 and Category 2 projects will take place early in 2019, with a second call for the Fund taking place later in the year.

Table 1. Successful RRDF Applications by County