Written answers

Tuesday, 5 April 2022

Department of Rural and Community Development

Departmental Schemes

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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988. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the extent to which she can encourage the use of the local improvement scheme by various local authorities in which suitable schemes are proposed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18363/22]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather 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 (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.

The Local Improvement Scheme is demand-led, is typically over subscribed at Local Authority level and the available budget is fully utilised each year.

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 have now announced the details of this year’s scheme, including the details of the individual allocations to each county this year.

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