Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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1907. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of approved applications on local improvement scheme waiting lists, by county, separating ordinary-private roads from community roads, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [63917/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Local Improvement Scheme, or 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 LIS is funded into the future.

The Scheme was reintroduced by my Department in 2017 following a number of years with no dedicated funding. I am committed to improving connectivity for rural residents, whether it be access to homes, farms or outdoor amenities. From 2017 to 2022, my Department has allocated over €100 million towards improvement works on over 3,700 non-public roads and lanes benefiting over 16,000 landowners and residents in these rural areas.

I launched the 2022 scheme with an initial budget of €11 million. Over the course of the year additional funding of a further €11 million was sourced from savings within my Department which brought the total for 2022 to some €22m.

I was pleased, as part of Budget 2023, to announce an increase in the base funding for LIS to €12 million.

The selection and prioritisation of eligible roads for approval is a matter for each relevant local authority to determine in line with parameters set out in the LIS Scheme Outline. The table below sets out the number of applications held by the relevant local authorities. Further detail as to whether an individual application supports access to community amenities is not held by my Department.

It is important to note that the number of applications on hand as outlined above can be recorded differently across local authorities. For example, some local authorities base figures on open ended application periods while others do not, and some local authorities retain applications for periods which can date back to as far as 2008 while others do not.

In addition, it should also be noted that figures for applications on hand do not infer that those applications can be delivered in a given time period. For example, as part of my Department's ongoing engagement with local authorities on this matter they have indicated that the maximum total of roads that could be delivered this year would be some 850 due to factors such as availability of contractors etc.

As set out in Our Rural Future, I am committed to ensuring the ongoing funding of this important scheme and I continue to seek the support of my colleague, the Minister for Transport, in order to fund the scheme into the future.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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1908. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of local improvement scheme applications completed in each county in each of the years from 2016 to 2022, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [63918/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Local Improvement Scheme, or 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 LIS is funded into the future.

The Scheme was reintroduced by my Department in 2017 following a number of years with no dedicated funding. I am committed to improving connectivity for rural residents – whether it be access to homes, farms or outdoor amenities. From 2017 to 2022, my Department has allocated over €100 million towards improvement works on over 3,700 non-public roads and lanes benefiting over 16,000 landowners and residents in these rural areas.

I launched the 2022 scheme with an initial budget of €11 million. Over the course of the year additional funding was sourced from savings within my Department and I doubled the funding allocated to €22 million. I was pleased, as part of Budget 2023, to announce an increase in the base funding for LIS to €12 million.

I intend to continue to seek the support of my colleague, the Minister for Transport, in order to fund the strong demand which exists for the scheme in rural Ireland.

The table below sets out the details on a county basis since 2017 as the Scheme did not operate in 2016.

LIS Roads completed (2017 to 2022)

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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1909. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she intends to include a measure under this year's CLÁR programme for improvements to parking, turning and other facilities on primary school grounds where the 80 km speed limit applies to ensure the safety of pupils, staff and parents, given that there are still schools in CLÁR areas that require such improvements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1002/23]

Heather 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.

Since the CLÁR programme was relaunched in 2016, it has supported a wide range of measures. Funding of over €57 million has been approved for almost 2,100 projects. This included almost €22 million for safety related measures at schools/community facilities.

Under the CLÁR 2022 programme, funding of over €12 million was approved for almost 300 projects. The measures funded were:

- Developing Community Facilities and Amenities (Measure 1)

- Mobility, Cancer Care and Community First Responders Transport (Measure 2)

- ‘Our Islands’ (Measure 3)

The Measures to be included in the CLÁR programme are reviewed each year and will be reviewed again in advance of the next launch of the programme.

Safety measures at schools remains a priority for Government. It should be noted that the Safe Routes to School Programme (SRSP) aims to create safer walking and cycling routes within communities, alleviate congestion at the school gates and increase the number of students who walk or cycle to school by providing improvements to walking and cycling facilities. It is funded by my colleague, the Minister for Transport through the National Transport Authority and supported by the Department of Education.

€15m was allocated to support projects at 170 schools in the initial round of SRSP funding, announced in June 2021. A further €20m was announced in the second round of funding, announced in December 2022. This will support a further 108 schools, benefitting some 37,000 school children.