Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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631. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the amount allocated by his Department for the Our Balbriggan strategy; the details of the projects funded; the timelines for the delivery of each project; the projects that are part of the Balbriggan rejuvenation plan; the projects that are new; the amount allocated to each; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14273/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) was launched in 2018 to support more compact and sustainable development. The URDF is one of four funds established under the National Development Plan 2018-2027 and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has responsibility for its implementation.

The Fund is providing part-funding for applicant led projects that will enable a greater proportion of residential and mixed-use development to be delivered within the existing built-up footprints of our cities and large towns, while also ensuring that more parts of our urban areas can become attractive and vibrant places in which people choose to live and work, as well as to invest and to visit.

The URDF, as a key activator of the National Planning Framework (NPF) and Project Ireland 2040, is supporting a programme of significant transformational capital projects that will contribute to the regeneration and rejuvenation of Ireland’s five cities and other large towns, in line with the objectives of the NPF and PI2040.

All applications for URDF support are assessed in terms of their alignment with the intended purpose of the URDF programme and also their viability before being considered for approval.

With regard to the approved proposal in question, Fingal County Council’s proposal for Balbriggan Rejuvenation, the recently announced global provisional allocation of €25,438,875 for this multi-element project under Call 2 of the URDF is to support substantive capital elements subsequent to a related planning and design project that was allocated support of €2,125,000 under Call 1. This means that to date a total of €27,563,875 in URDF funding has been provisionally allocated to this project.

In the coming weeks, my Department will issue a formal approval in principle letter in respect of this successful proposal to Fingal County Council, which will set out the arrangements and conditions attached to URDF support, and which will also provide a breakdown of the global provisional allocation by sub-project.

While my Department works closely with the successful applicants in respect of project funding, responsibility for the advancement of URDF supported projects through the various stages of planning, development and completion is, in the first instance, a matter for the Sponsoring Agency, in this case Fingal County Council.

In this regard, it should be noted that all URDF supported projects must be carefully developed and managed by the Sponsoring Agency in accordance with the normal conditions and arrangements that apply to public sector managed projects including, exercising appropriate cost control and delivering projects as approved, and in full compliance with the Public Spending Code.