Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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301. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of a project (details supplied) in County Mayo; if the project has commenced through to the construction tender stage; the associated timeline on works; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10085/23]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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302. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of a project (details supplied) in County Mayo; if his Department will support the local authority in dividing the URDF funding allocated into three separate projects with individual business plans; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10086/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 301 and 302 together.

In line with the objectives of the National Planning Framework and the National Development Plan, the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) is currently providing part-funding to applicant-led projects, enabling more compact and sustainable development within the existing built-up footprints of our cities and large towns.

To this end, the URDF has already provisionally allocated in excess of €1.6 billion under two separate calls for proposals since its inception in 2018. Providing assistance to 132 proposals, comprising of almost 400 subprojects, URDF projects are now active in every local authority area in the country.

In 2021, following the second call for proposals under the URDF, I announced a provisional allocation of €11,027,500 in URDF support for Mayo County Council's two successful projects - Castlebar Historic Core Reactivation Initiative Project (€8,527,500) and Castlebar Military Barracks Project (€2,500,000).

This followed Mayo County Council's successful application for €141,391 in URDF support towards technical assistance for the advancement of the Castlebar Military Barracks project under the URDF's first call for proposals in 2018.

A preliminary Business Case for each of the Call 2 projects was recently approved by my Department. This represents Decision Gate 1 in the project life cycle of the Public Spending Code and gives approval to Mayo County Council to proceed to the development of a Detailed Project Brief and Procurement Strategy for submission to the department as part of the approval process for the next decision gate (Decision Gate 2 – Pre Tender Approval).

The overall Castlebar Historic Core Reactivation Initiative Project is made up of a number of sub-projects, including the repurposing of the former Castlebar Post Office as a Community Youth Resource Centre, for which a provisional allocation of €1,500,000 in URDF support has been approved as part of the overall €8,527,500 allocation.

While my Department works closely and communicates regularly with Mayo County Council in respect of project funding, responsibility for the advancement of these URDF supported projects through the various stages of planning, development and completion is, in the first instance, a matter for the Sponsoring Agency, Mayo County Council. Any queries regarding the timeline of the projects should be directed to the Council.

It should be noted that all URDF supported projects must be carefully developed and managed by the Sponsoring Agency in accordance with the normal conditions and arrangements that apply to public sector managed projects including, exercising appropriate cost control and delivering projects as approved, and in full compliance with the Public Spending Code.

Regarding the progression of subprojects independently, my Department has, where appropriate, been actively encouraging local authorities to consider such an approach. Any proposal from Mayo County Council which demonstrates that progressing the subprojects independently represents the most cost efficient and timely way to deliver the overall project will be supported.