Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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242. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reason an application from Louth County Council for grant aid under the urban regeneration and development fund for the development of the Drogheda northern port access route was recently refused by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17988/19]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) was launched as part of Project Ireland 2040, to support the compact growth and sustainable development of Ireland’s five cities, regional drivers and other large urban centres.  I initiated the first call for proposals under the Fund in July 2018 and the deadline for submission of applications was 28 September.  A total of 189 applications were submitted to my Department and, on 26 November, I announced the successful applicants for funding, details of which are available on my Department's website at the following . 

There were two categories of submission; Category A for projects that were 'ready to go' and Category B to support the initial development of projects (Master-planning/Feasibility) to ensure a pipeline of projects into the future as the URDF is a rolling fund, with €2 billion available to 2027.

The project in question was amongst the group of unsuccessful proposals that were deemed not eligible or were not recommended due to the following general reasons:

- The proposal did not respond to core assessment criteria of the fund or the quality of the proposal was low;

- The proposal was a routine capital project more related to other capital funding sources available from another department or agency;

- The proposal was already commercially viable and would be better supported by market response; and

- The proposal was not in compliance with state aid or the additionality factor/wider leveraging of the project was in question (Value for Money).

However, in accordance with the terms of the first call for proposals Louth County Council sought a review of that decision.  That review is presently in train and the outcome, which is expected shortly, will be communicated to the County Council as soon as possible.