Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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31. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the reason larger counties with larger CLÁR areas are limited to making the same number of applications as much smaller counties with smaller CLÁR areas; if an imbalance against CLÁR area residents in the larger counties is recognised; her plans to review this; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27953/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The CLÁR programme provides funding for small scale projects in rural areas that have experienced significant levels of de-population over a defined period.

Under the CLÁR 2021 programme, each Local Authority was permitted to submit up to 13 applications across Measures 1, 2 and 3(a) of the programme. These Measures provide funding for school and community safety interventions, outdoor community recreation facilities, and community gardens and allotments.

While each Local Authority is permitted to submit the same number of applications under the Measures, in previous years the number of projects approved in each county was decided by reference to the proportion of the CLÁR area within each county.

The approach taken ensured that counties with a proportionally larger CLÁR area, relative to the overall size of the county, received greater assistance under the programme.

I believe this is a balanced approach to the distribution of CLÁR funding.

I will keep the approach to selecting projects under review in 2021, while mindful of the need to provide funding where it is needed the most.

Finally, the Deputy may be aware that I also introduced a new CLÁR Innovation Measure this year. This funding will be targeted at piloting new ideas which address specific challenges faced by communities in CLÁR areas, including rural isolation, population change, social disadvantage and marginalisation. This Measure provides a great opportunity for communities to identify the specific challenges they face and to come up with innovative ways to address them. There was no limit applied in respect of the number of applications that could be submitted from any location.