Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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242. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the breakdown of the €125,882,000 capital allocation under A rural development and regional affairs, that is, Vote 42 of the budget 2019 expenditure report within his Department for 2019 by specific project; the projects that will be commenced in 2019; the projects that will be completed in 2019, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6052/19]

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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243. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the breakdown of the €15,118,000 capital allocation under B community development, that is, Vote 42 of the budget 2019 expenditure report within his Department for 2019 by specific project; the projects that will be commenced in 2019; the projects that will be completed in 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6053/19]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 242 and 243 together.

My Department provides funding at programme level to support local authorities and others in the delivery of individual capital projects. The Department operates a wide range of capital funding programmes such as the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund, the Town and Village Renewal Scheme, Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme, CLÁR, Community Enhancement Programme, Libraries Capital Investment Programme, the LEADER Programme and the Local Improvement Scheme.

Each of these programmes support a very large number of individual projects. For example, 224 areas benefitted from funding under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme in 2018, and the most recent round of funding under the Community Enhancement programme supported over 3,000 individual projects or capital purchases. The details of individual projects supported by my Department under each programme are available on my Department's website.

Of particular importance in 2019 is the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund. Under Project Ireland 2040, the Government has committed €1 billion to this Fund over a 10 year period to support rural economic development and help build strong communities. The Fund has been allocated €315 million over the period 2019 to 2022, with €55 million set aside in my Department's budget in 2019. The respective allocations for the years 2020 to 2022 will be confirmed as part of the annual budgetary process. 18 successful Category 1 projects were announced on the 23rd November 2018, and details of these projects are also available on the Department website. A further announcement detailing successful Category 1 and Category 2 projects will take place shortly, with a second call for the Fund taking place later in the year.

In respect of allocations for 2019, the breakdown of my Department’s capital spend at programme level is set out in the following table;