Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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591. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if the work to be carried out with funds allocated to local authorities in 2018 under the local improvement scheme has been completed and claims made for same; if not, the amount for which certificates of completion of the work have not been submitted by each county council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5741/19]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Local Improvement Scheme, or LIS, is a programme for improvement works on small private or non-public roads in predominantly rural areas. The scheme is funded by my Department and administered through the Local Authorities.

In February of 2018, I allocated €10.8 million to Local Authorities under the scheme. Drawdown of the funding was on the basis of certification of works completed, and the amounts drawn down in respect of that round indicates that those works are complete or near completion in almost all areas.

As part of the 2018 scheme, I also asked the Local Authorities to prepare secondary lists of roads which they could complete if further funding became available for the scheme during the year.

Following on from this, on 26^th October 2018, I announced a further round of almost €10 million in LIS funding to the Local Authorities. 60% of the funding allocated under this second round of funding was released to eligible Local Authorities on the basis that all works would be fully completed by the end of the first quarter of 2019. Certificates of completion in respect of this round of funding have not been received from any Local Authority to date. I anticipate that Local Authorities will certificates of completion and draw down the balance of this round of funding over the coming months.

The table below outlines the status of LIS 2018 to date.

LIS 2018 Allocations and Paid to Date

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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592. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development when it is planned to make a further allocation of funds to county councils under the local improvement scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5742/19]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Local Improvement Scheme, or LIS, is a programme for improvement works on small private or non-public roads in rural areas. As the Deputy may be aware, there was no dedicated funding for this scheme for a number of 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 and I reintroduced the LIS in September 2017 and allocated a total of €17.4 million to Local Authorities for LIS roads that year.

In 2018, I allocated almost €21 million for LIS roads in two phases.

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 Vote for 2019. Details regarding the 2019 Local Improvement Scheme will be available shortly.