Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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204. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if his Department notified local authorities in relation to the recently confirmed new round of the LIS; when the funding will be distributed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9785/19]

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. The scheme is funded by my Department and is administered through the Local Authorities.

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.

I reintroduced the LIS in September 2017 and allocated a total of €17.5 million to Local Authorities for LIS roads in 2017. In 2018, I allocated over €20 million for LIS roads in two phases - April 2018 and October 2018.

On 7^thFebruary 2019, I announced a further €10 million to Local Authorities for LIS roads across the country. The allocations for each county were published on my Department's website at:

.

Formal notification and related terms and conditions for the funding is being issued to the Local Authorities this week.

The new round of funding will be released in two tranches following the completion of works as follows:

1. 50% of the funding will be made available once Local Authorities have certified completion of projects approved under the October 2018 LIS announcement, and completion of the first half of works from their 2019 allocation.

2. The balance will be made available at a later stage, following completion of the remaining projects under the 2019 scheme.