Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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65. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development her views on increasing the annual funding for the CLÁR programme. [8585/23]

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. The Programme was re-launched in 2016 following a number of years when the scheme was closed to new applications. CLÁR has made significant investments at community level the length and breadth of the country. Funding of over €57 million has been approved for almost 2,100 projects since its re-launch.

Measures to be included in the CLÁR Programme are reviewed and revised each year, as appropriate. The measures funded under the scheme in 2022 were:

- Developing Community Facilities and Amenities (Measure 1)

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

- ‘Our Islands’ (Measure 3)

In that funding round, I approved over €12 million supporting almost 300 projects. Details of the successful applications are published on my Department’s website.

Finally, I am happy to confirm that as part of Budget 2023 an additional €0.55m has been allocated to the support the Programme this year.