Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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111. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the funding allocated by her Department in 2021 to local authorities for the local improvement scheme; the funding that will be provided in 2022; when allocations will be made to local authorities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60200/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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As part of 'Our Rural Future',the Government is committed to ensuring that the Local Improvement Scheme is funded into the future. This reflects the important contribution which the scheme makes to connectivity in rural Ireland. The Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) supports the improvement of rural roads and laneways that are not normally maintained by local authorities and represents a vital piece of infrastructure for rural communities.

The scheme has been funded by my Department since 2017 and is administered by Local Authorities. Prior to 2017, the scheme was not funded for a number of years.

I launched the 2021 Scheme on 14th May with a budget of €10.5 million. I was very pleased to source additional funding for the Scheme during the year and to allocate a further round of funding on 29th July to bring the total level of funding to €21 million this year.

I was also pleased to be in a position to again announce an increase in the funding for LIS from €10.5 million to €11 million as part of Budget 2022.

I have set out in the table below the allocations to individual authorities under the 2021 Scheme. Payments by my Department under the Scheme have now been processed for 2021 following the completion of works by the Local Authorities.