Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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40. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development when she expects to announce the next round of allocations from the rural regeneration development fund; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49404/21]

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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64. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if her Department plans to make funding available under the rural regeneration development fund for the installation of municipal waste water treatment plants in towns and villages in which no such services exist and development cannot progress; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49401/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 40 and 64 together.

The Rural Regeneration and Development Fund provides funding for the development and construction of capital projects in towns and villages and rural areas across Ireland. To date, 164 projects have been approved for funding of €252m for projects costing over €343m.

A guidance document detailing the Fund's objectives is issued before each call for applications. Subject to those objectives, applicants can subject proposals for projects which meet the needs of a particular town, village or area. In that regard, projects allocated funding to date range across sectors, including town and village regeneration, enterprise development, tourism development, digital and co-working initiatives, libraries, arts and cultural facilities and sports and recreation facilities. Projects are often a combination of a number of these elements.

It would be open to a local authority or other State-funded body eligible under the rules of the Fund to make an application in relation to a wastewater treatment project if that were identified as a priority.

The third call for Category 2 applications - relating to funding sought to develop capital projects to full readiness - closed on the 30th July 2021. My Department received 53 applications to this call.

The application process for the Fund is competitive in nature. Applications are currently being assessed by my Department under the oversight of the Project Advisory Board, comprised of representatives from key Government Departments and independent experts. Once that process is complete, my Department will prepare a report setting out recommended projects and my role as Minister will be to consider that report and make final decisions in relation to the allocation of funding. I expect to announce the successful projects before the end of the year.

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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41. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of playgrounds funded under the CLÁR scheme in each county both through community organisations and through schools. [49905/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The CLÁR Programme provides funding under a number of different Measures for small-scale infrastructural projects in designated rural areas that have experienced significant levels of de-population over a defined period. My Department reviews the type of initiatives to be funded under the Programme each year.

I launched the CLÁR 2021 Programme on 15^th March and Measure 2 of the programme provided support for Outdoor Community Recreation Facilities, including playgrounds.

I announced funding on 30th August of over €2.3million for 52 projects under this Measure, including 20 projects involving playgrounds; 6 projects approved for schools and 14 for community projects. Details are provided in the table below. These projects consist of new playgrounds/play areas and/or upgrades to existing playgrounds/play areas.

CLÁR 2021 also provided funding for a host of other outdoor amenities such as multi-use games areas, sensory gardens and community gardens.

The full list of successful CLÁR 2021 projects and the successful projects from previous years are available on the Department's website at www.gov.ie/drcd.

Table: Playgrounds/Play Areas Approved for funding under CLÁR 2021, Measure 2

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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43. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if consideration has been given or will be given to reintroducing the additional 30% grant for Rapid and CLÁR areas under the sports capital grant. [47794/21]

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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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.

I understand that in the past the CLÁR Programme was used to top-up other funding programmes, including the Sports Capital Programme. However, since it was relaunched in 2016, the programme provides funding, in its own right, for small scale projects.

The Measures funded through this year's programme are:

- Measure 1 which supports School and Community Safety projects

- Measure 2 which supports Outdoor Community Recreation Facilities; and,

- Measure 3 which funds Community Wellbeing Supports. This includes funding for Community Gardens and Allotments and funding for Mobility and Cancer Care Transport vehicles.

In addition, this year Minister Humphreys introduced a new CLÁR Innovation Measure. This funding is targeted at piloting new ideas which address specific challenges faced by communities in CLÁR areas, including rural isolation, population change, social disadvantage and marginalisation.

The Measures to be funded next year will be reviewed in advance of the launch of the 2022 Programme. There are currently no plans to reintroduce a top-up grant for other programmes such as the Sports Capital Programme.

The RAPID programme, which was launched in 2001, closed to new applications in 2011. A recast RAPID Programme was rolled out in 2017 using the Local Community Development Committees which are well placed to identify and address local disadvantage. This new approach also took into account the findings of a Value for Money Policy Review of RAPID in 2011 which recommended that any follow-on programmes should not be rolled out in the same way as the original programme.

In 2018, the Department reviewed the recast RAPID and the Communities Facilities Scheme. Following that review it was decided to launch a new Community Enhancement Programme which builds on and replaces the Communities Facilities Scheme and the RAPID programme. The Community Enhancement Programme is available in all areas, not only the areas previously identified as RAPID areas.