Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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77. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she has considered allocating additional funding to the local improvement scheme for private roads and laneways given the backlog of applications. [17942/22]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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81. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the allocation for local improvement scheme-funded roads for 2022, by county; if she envisages a top-up fund for such roads similar to 2021; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17919/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 77 and 81 together.

As part of Our Rural Future, the Government is committed to ensuring that the Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) is funded into the future. The LIS supports the improvement of rural roads and laneways that are not normally maintained by local authorities. The scheme makes an important contribution to connectivity in rural Ireland.

The scheme was reintroduced in 2017, following a number of years with no dedicated funding. Since then, my Department has allocated €80 million towards improvement works on over 3,000 non-public roads and lanes. These works have benefited over 13,300 landowners and residents in these rural areas.

I launched the 2021 scheme with an initial budget of €10.5 million. I sourced additional funding last year from savings within my Department's vote, effectively doubling investment to bring the total for 2021 to €21 million.

I was pleased, as part of Budget 2022, to announce an increase in the base funding for LIS from €10.5 million to €11 million this year. I announced the details of the 2022 scheme earlier today, including the details of the individual allocations to each county this year. These details will be available in the accompanying written reply to the Deputies and are available on my Department's website.

I am sure this investment will be warmly welcomed.

I will keep the position in respect to the availability of further top-up funding under review.

I have also recently written again to my colleague, Minister Eamon Ryan, T.D., to explore whether funding may be available from the Department of Transport to support the scheme. I believe a cross-Government approach might reap dividends in dealing with the backlog of applications on hand and I will continue to keep all options open in this regard.