Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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1737. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the amount of grant funding his Department and associated agencies have allocated to counties Longford and Westmeath since its establishment; the amount funded through the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht when it handled certain areas now allocated to his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35140/19]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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My Department was established in July 2017 and details of the funding allocated to Longford and Westmeath since that date are provided in the following tables.

A number of the schemes referenced commenced while under the remit of the then Department of Arts, Heritage, Rural and Regional Affairs, and allocations made under these schemes prior to the transfer of functions are also outlined where appropriate.

In respect of agencies under the remit of my Department, none of these bodies has a role in the sanctioning of grant funding.

Overall, I can confirm that, since the start of 2017, Longford has been allocated funding in excess of €15.3 million, while Westmeath has been allocated €12.9 million.

These figures are correct to the end of June 2019 and include the following funding (including some provided prior to 2017 under functions which transferred from the Department of Arts, Heritage, Rural and Regional Affairs). The years in which each programme has operated are noted:

**In respect of LEADER funding, the figures above refer to funding to approved projects under the current programme to date. Under LEADER 2014-2020 each Local Development Strategy (LDS) area has a set allocation for the duration of the programme. For the current programme, Longford has a core project allocation of €5,698,500 and Westmeath has €5,563,495.

In addition, significant grant funding has also been allocated through the following programmes since 2017 under functions which did not transfer from the Department of Arts, Heritage, Rural and Regional Affairs: