Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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744. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the status of the local improvement scheme; the number of applications that were received and approved by county in 2021 and to date in 2022, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26397/22]

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 (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. Additional funding was sourced last year from savings within my Department's vote, effectively doubling investment in LIS to bring the total investment last year 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.

The prioritisation and selection of eligible LIS roads is a matter for each relevant local authority within broad parameters set down by my Department. Following the launch of the LIS with the confirmation of county allocations, each local authority submits a priority list of roads, as well as a reserve list to my Department before works commence locally.

660 LIS roads were delivered under the 2021 scheme from the total allocation of €21 million. These roads are set out in the following table. In addition, some 244 LIS roads have been submitted by local authorities to date in respect of the 2022 Scheme, with a number of authorities finalising lists at present.