Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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81. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the status of the Programme for Government’s commitment for an expanded town and village renewal scheme to bring vacant and derelict buildings back into use and promote residential occupancy; when communities can start applying for this funding; and the estimated amount available to each local authority. [53612/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Town and Village Renewal Scheme is one of a number of measures designed to rejuvenate rural towns and villages throughout Ireland. Since the introduction of the scheme in 2016 over €113 million has been allocated to more than 1,400 projects across Ireland.

A key focus of the 2021 Scheme was to renovate derelict and vacant buildings in our town centres, including for residential living. For 2021 the maximum grant available under the Scheme was increased to €500,000 to permit projects of additional scale to be funded.

The 2022 Scheme continued to build on the changes introduced in 2021 with an additional allocation of €2m. It also prioritised projects bringing vacant and derelict buildings back into use as multipurpose community spaces.

Applications under the main stream of the 2022 Town and Village Renewal Scheme are currently undergoing assessment as part of a competitive process and I hope to be in a position to announce details of the successful applications in the coming months.

A new Building Acquisition Measure was also introduced in the 2022 scheme, which allowed local authorities to apply for up to €400,000 to purchase up to two buildings for use as multipurpose community spaces. I was delighted in July to approve the purchase of 36 derelict and vacant buildings across rural Ireland under this new intervention. This initiative will see former banks, Garda stations and courthouses being given new leases of life in towns across Ireland.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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83. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will provide an update on the town and village renewal scheme. [53743/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Town and Village Renewal Scheme was first introduced in 2016. It is one of a number of measures designed to rejuvenate rural towns and villages throughout Ireland. The Scheme is funded under Project Ireland 2040 as part of Our Rural Future.

The Scheme is targeted at towns and villages with a population of 10,000 or less. It is managed on behalf of my Department by the local authorities.

Since the launch of the Town and Village Renewal Scheme in 2016, over €113 million has been allocated to more than 1,400 projects across Ireland. Each year the priorities for the scheme are reviewed and revised as appropriate by my Department.

In 2021 a new Project Development Measure was introduced for pre-development costs (e.g. surveys) with the aim of contributing to a pipeline of significant, well developed projects that may subsequently be progressed, subject to the availability of further funding.

The 2022 Scheme was again revised to introduce a number of new measures including the Building Acquisition Measure and the Marketing Measure. In July, I approved €7.5m under the Building Acquisition Measure and in September €1.1m was approved under the Marketing Measure.

The 2022 Scheme placed particular emphasis on projects supporting bringing vacant and derelict properties back into use as multipurpose community spaces. The maximum grant under the Scheme was increased in 2021 and remained at the increased amount of €500,000 in 2022 to permit additional projects of scale to be funded.

The 2022 applications are currently under assessment and I hope to make an announcement on these before the end of the year.