Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Town Centre First Policy is a major cross-government policy that aims to tackle vacancy, combat dereliction and breathe new life into our town centres.

My Department co-chairs the National Oversight and Advisory Group for the policy with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. This Group seeks to oversee the delivery of the policy and ensures there is clear stakeholder visibility in relation to implementation. The Group met in December 2022 and April 2023 and will meet on a quarterly basis going forward to ensure that momentum is maintained.

The Town Centre First National Implementation Office was established last year and will be key to the success of the policy. The Office drives implementation at national level, supports the network of Town Regeneration Officers at a local level and coordinates stakeholder engagement. This structure has been put in place within the Local Government Management Association, and my officials are in ongoing contact with the National Office.

Central to the Town Centre First approach is the range of support funding in place, including my Department’s Rural Regeneration and Development Fund, and Town and Village Renewal Scheme.

Last November I announced funding of €115m for regeneration projects across rural towns under my Department's Rural Regeneration and Development Fund for 2022. These projects include a focus on combating vacancy and dereliction by regenerating iconic town centre buildings such as old hotels, banks, schools, and courthouses.

Similarly, last December I announced €27 million in funding to regenerate and breathe new life into rural towns and villages under the 2022 Town and Village Renewal Scheme.

I have now approved funding of €5.4 million to support the purchase of 23 vacant and derelict buildings in the first tranche of approvals under the 2023 Building Acquisition Measure.

I remain committed to ensuring the success of the Town Centre First policy in delivering on the goal of revitalising rural towns and villages as set out in Our Rural Future.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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79. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of applications received under the community support fund to deal with energy bills to date; and their county of origin, in tabular form. [28047/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Last November, I was delighted to launch the 2022 Community Support Fund (CSF) under the Community Enhancement Programme, with funding of €10 million to assist local community and voluntary groups across the country with a multitude of costs including energy and utility bills, other operating costs, minor upgrade works and small capital purchases.

The CSF funding is administered on behalf of my Department by Local Community Development Committees (LCDCs) across the country, with support from their Local Authority. It should be noted a number of LCDCs are still assessing applications, and successful grantees are being announced on a county-by-county basis, therefore the information requested by the Deputy is not available in all cases, however, a breakdown of the information, where available, can be found in the attachment, which is being provided to the Deputy.

The 2022 CSF is now closed to applicants and details of successful projects will be published on my Department’s website www.gov.ie/drcdin the coming weeks.

In addition to the Community Support Fund, the Community and Voluntary Energy Support Scheme (CVESS) was launched last November to provide for a once-off payment to eligible charities and community and voluntary sector organisations, that fall outside the remit of other energy support schemes. The CVESS was extended and streamlined earlier this year to make it easier for organisations with multiple facilities to apply, and to allow section 39 organisations to receive CVESS funding in respect of any shortfalls in the energy cost funding provided to them by the HSE/Dept of Health. I was pleased to announce Tranche 5 of funding last month, which brought the total number of organisations supported to 846, with over €1.35m now disbursed.

I look forward to continuing to deliver meaningful supports like the CSF and CVESS to local communities as we support communities to respond to the challenges they face.