Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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In June of this year, I launched the 2022 Town and Village Renewal Scheme (TVRS), again prioritising projects that bring vacant and derelict buildings back into use and promote residential occupancy in town centres.

In recognition of the urgent need to transform and regenerate town centres I introduced a new Building Acquisition Measure (BAM) under the 2022 Scheme to support local authorities to immediately acquire derelict or vacant buildings, with the intention of using these projects for town regeneration purposes in line with the aims of TVRS.

The properties must form the basis of an application under a future TVRS call or be developed for town regeneration purposes via the local authorities' own resources or another funding stream by the end of 2024.

The projects drawn down under the BAM and detail of the proposed purpose are as follows:

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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Not-for-profit and voluntary organisations in the Community and Voluntary sector are woven into the fabric of community life across Ireland, but they are vulnerable to the impact of increased energy costs.

The recent budget allocated €10m to my department to put in place a support scheme for community and voluntary organisations and charities to help with the additional energy costs incurred in 2022. The Community and Voluntary Energy Support Scheme (CVESS), administered by Pobal on behalf of the Department of Rural and Community Development, will provide once-off support to organisations within the community and voluntary sector which fall outside the parameters of other energy support schemes being delivered by Government. The CVESS opened on 21st November and closed to applications on Friday 2nd December.

Applications are being assessed in batches to support timely decision making and drawdowns of funds. I was pleased to announce the first tranche of successful applicants this week, with further announcements to follow. Payments will be issued directly into successful applicants bank accounts immediately, and a full list of recipients is available on Gov.ie.

I can confirm that my department has streamlined the process for multi-site applicants. Phase two of the scheme is now open for applications and will remain open until 20th January 2023. Further details are available on Pobal’s website.

My Department will continue to work with relevant stakeholders, including the community and voluntary sector, charities, local authorities and local development companies, to support community organisations across the country as they deal with the ongoing and emerging challenges. This Scheme is one of a range of supports introduced through Budget ’23 and everyone is encouraged to visit gov.ie/reduceyouruse to find out how they can make energy savings, where safe and possible to do so.