Written answers

Tuesday, 14 June 2022

Department of Rural and Community Development

Departmental Schemes

Photo of Claire KerraneClaire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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1998. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the estimated full-year cost of increasing funding for small-scale rural projects, such as CLÁR by 10%. [28951/22]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather 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. 

A total of €45.2 million has been approved for over 1,800 CLÁR projects since the programme was re-established in 2016.  

I launched this year's programme in February with a total budget of €7 million.  This represents an increase of €1.5 million, or 27%, on the budget for the 2021 CLÁR programme. Based on the 2022 allocation a 10% increase in allocated funding for the scheme would cost in the region of €700,000. 

Photo of Claire KerraneClaire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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1999. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of applications that have been received by her Department under CLÁR funding; and the number of successful applications; and the number rejected by county in each year since 2015. [28952/22]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather 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.

CLÁR was re-launched in 2016 following a number of years when the scheme was closed to new applications.  Since then, almost 1,800 projects have been supported with funding of over €45.2 million.

The measures being funded under CLÁR 2022 are: 

Measure 1:  Developing Community Facilities and Amenities 

Measure 2: Mobility, Cancer Care and Community First Responders Transport 

Measure 3: ‘Our Islands’

The 2022 CLÁR programme is now closed for application under all measures and the assessment process has commenced. 

The tables below set out the number of applications received, approved and not approved over the period 2016 to 2021 under the CLÁR Programme.

CLÁR Applications 2016 – 2021

2016
County Received Approved Not approved
Carlow 18 18 0
Cavan 33 33 0
Clare 27 27 0
Cork 82 35 47
Donegal 117 78 39
Dublin 0 0 0
Galway 62 57 5
Kerry 123 27 96
Kilkenny 9 9 0
Laois 24 24 0
Leitrim 27 20 7
Limerick 38 29 9
Longford 20 18 2
Louth 8 6 2
Mayo 81 38 43
Meath 7 7 0
Monaghan 49 29 20
Offaly 18 14 4
Roscommon 39 32 7
Sligo 51 50 1
Tipperary 48 43 5
Waterford 25 23 2
Westmeath 19 18 1
Wexford 0 0 0
Wicklow 3 3 0
Total 928 638 290

2017
County Received Approved Not approved
Carlow 5 5 0
Cavan 29 12 17
Clare 21 10 11
Cork 27 9 18
Donegal 36 10 26
Dublin 0 0 0
Galway 28 15 13
Kerry 29 8 21
Kilkenny 15 4 11
Laois 20 5 15
Leitrim 21 17 4
Limerick 24 10 14
Longford 24 12 12
Louth 20 10 10
Mayo 29 22 7
Meath 11 4 7
Monaghan 22 16 6
Offaly 22 9 13
Roscommon 22 12 10
Sligo 23 9 14
Tipperary 25 15 10
Waterford 28 10 18
Westmeath 24 3 21
Wexford 0 0 0
Wicklow 16 4 12
Total 521 231 290

2018
County Received Approved Not approved
Carlow 13 10 3
Cavan 20 16 4
Clare 24 17 7
Cork 29 22 7
Donegal 28 20 8
Dublin 0 0 0
Galway 30 22 8
Kerry 40 31 9
Kilkenny 13 11 2
Laois 18 15 3
Leitrim 24 18 6
Limerick 23 14 9
Longford 19 14 5
Louth 17 12 5
Mayo 44 31 13
Meath 13 11 2
Monaghan 20 18 2
Offaly 19 13 6
Roscommon 20 14 6
Sligo 22 17 5
Tipperary 31 22 9
Waterford 18 15 3
Westmeath 22 16 6
Wexford 0 0 0
Wicklow 18 10 8
Total 525 389 136

2019 
County Received Approved Not Approved
Carlow 11 2 9
Cavan 26 11 15
Clare 20 8 12
Cork 29 8 21
Donegal 31 12 19
Dublin 0 0 0
Galway 30 13 17
Kerry 35 17 18
Kilkenny 13 4 9
Laois 19 4 15
Leitrim 30 11 19
Limerick 18 2 16
Longford 23 14 9
Louth 9 4 5
Mayo 38 18 20
Meath 8 2 6
Monaghan 19 9 10
Offaly 10 2 8
Roscommon 28 12 16
Sligo 18 8 10
Tipperary 23 8 15
Waterford 20 3 17
Westmeath 23 4 19
Wexford 0 0 0
Wicklow 13 3 10
Total 494 179 315

2020 
County Received Approved Not Approved
Carlow 12 3 9
Cavan 11 9 2
Clare 16 9 7
Cork 13 9 4
Donegal 15 12 3
Dublin 0 0 0
Galway 22 15 7
Kerry 43 31 12
Kilkenny 10 2 8
Laois 12 4 8
Leitrim 12 10 2
Limerick 11 4 7
Longford 14 11 3
Louth 10 2 8
Mayo 23 16 7
Meath 8 2 6
Monaghan 13 9 4
Offaly 16 5 11
Roscommon 19 12 7
Sligo 14 9 5
Tipperary 13 4 9
Waterford 10 3 7
Westmeath 10 3 7
Wexford 1 0 1
Wicklow 11 2 9
Total 339 186 153

2021
County Received Approved Not Approved
Carlow 7 2 5
Cavan 12 9 3
Clare 18 9 9
Cork 27 11 16
Donegal 15 8 7
Dublin 2 0 2
Galway 21 11 10
Kerry 30 17 13
Kilkenny 11 2 9
Laois 14 4 10
Leitrim 16 10 6
Limerick 15 5 10
Longford 15 10 5
Louth 12 2 10
Mayo 27 11 16
Meath 12 4 8
Monaghan 14 9 5
National Organisations 2 1 1
Offaly 12 4 8
Roscommon 14 8 6
Sligo 14 8 6
Tipperary 14 4 10
Waterford 14 6 8
Westmeath 10 4 6
Wexford 0 0 0
Wicklow 9 3 6
Total 357 162 195

Photo of Claire KerraneClaire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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2000. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the estimated full-year cost of increasing funding for rural development, regional affairs and the islands by 5%, 10% and 20%, respectively. [28953/22]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The total gross allocation provided to my Department in 2022 is €378.5 million. This total allocation is split across three programme areas, with €202.3 million allocated to the Rural Development, Regional Affairs and the Islands programme area. The full year cost of increasing funding for this programme area by 5%, 10% and 20% is outlined in the below table.

Funding for this programme area in 2022 is more than double the €93.4 million in funding which was available in 2018. This demonstrates the Government's commitment to this policy area, with schemes such as Town and Village Renewal, the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund and the Local Improvement Scheme all benefiting from these funding increases and supporting rural development throughout the country. 

€, m Total allocation Cost of increase
2022 Estimate 202.255 n/a
5% Increase 212.368 10.113
10% Increase 222.481 20.226
20% Increase 242.706 40.451

Photo of Claire KerraneClaire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

2001. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the estimated full-year cost of increasing funding for the local improvement scheme by 10%. [28954/22]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) supports the improvement of rural roads and laneways that are not normally maintained by local authorities.  As part of Our Rural Future, the Government is committed to ensuring that the Scheme is funded into the future.

From 2017 to 2021, my Department allocated €80 million towards improvement works on over 3,000 non-public roads and lanes benefiting over 13,300 landowners and residents in these rural areas. 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 details of the €11 million 2022 LIS Scheme in early April and approvals have issued for works to commence. Based on the 2022 allocation a 10% increase in allocated funding for the scheme would cost in the region of €1.1 million.

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