Written answers

Wednesday, 14 September 2022

Department of Rural and Community Development

Departmental Schemes

Photo of Claire KerraneClaire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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661. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of local improvement scheme applications that have been received by county to date in 2022; the number that have been approved and the funding allocated per county to date in 2022, in tabular form. [44392/22]

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. Between 2017 and 2021, my Department 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 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. Following a review of savings within the Department, I have recently announced an additional €11 million for the scheme, so doubling the 2022 allocation to €22 million. This brings the allocation since 2017 to over €100 million.

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.

541 LIS roads have been submitted and approved for funding to date for 2022, officials in my Department are engaging with a small number of local authorities to finalise lists under the second tranche of funding announced last month. These roads together with the county allocations are set out in the following table.

Local Authority Roads Submitted & Approved 2022 First Allocation Second Allocation Total Allocation 2022
Carlow 37 €351,880 €592,202 €944,082
Cavan 25 €371,140 €902,317 €1,273,457
Clare 26 €582,690 €655,325 €1,238,015
Cork 20 €879,099 €419,141 €1,298,240
Donegal 31 €716,560 €994,654 €1,711,214
Galway 50 €958,831 €724,010 €1,682,841
Kerry 22 €704,030 €791,460 €1,495,490
Kildare 12 €351,880 €83,446 €435,326
Kilkenny 12 €390,790 €237,820 €628,610
Laois 23 €351,880 €508,397 €860,277
Leitrim 29 €351,880 €729,158 €1,081,038
Limerick 27 €485,970 €445,019 €930,989
Longford 18 €351,880 €114,060 €465,940
Louth 9 €351,880 €96,393 €448,273
Mayo 33 €0 €610,944 €610,944
Meath 8 €340,500 €228,799 €569,299
Monaghan 14 €351,880 €581,009 €932,889
Offaly 31 €380,760 €294,025 €674,785
Roscommon 23 €456,990 €114,768 €571,758
Sligo 10 €358,030 €0 €358,030
Tipperary 30 €644,070 €481,703 €1,125,773
Waterford 11 €92,910 €494,266 €587,176
Westmeath 9 €358,320 €298,461 €656,781
Wexford 23 €431,760 €349,267 €781,027
Wicklow 8 €384,390 €253,358 €637,748
Total Roads 541 €11M €11M €22M

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