Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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1417. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development her ambitions for the town and village renewal scheme throughout County Kildare and throughout the country, now and in the future; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28581/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Our Rural Future, Ireland's Rural Development Policy 2021 – 2025 sets out an overarching vision for a thriving rural Ireland which is integral to our national economic, social, cultural and environmental well-being and development.

My Department's mission is to promote rural and community development and to support vibrant, inclusive and sustainable communities throughout Ireland. We do this by delivering a wide range of strategic interventions and investments throughout the country.

The Town and Village Renewal Scheme is one such measure that supports the revitalisation of rural Ireland. Since the launch of the Scheme in 2016, over €154 million has been allocated to more than 1,700 projects across Ireland. Last year, I was delighted to confirm a total funding package of €29m across the various strands of the Town and Village Renewal Scheme to support a wide range of projects.

This week, I announced funding of €5.4m for the first tranche of successful applications under the Building Acquisition Measure. A further tranche is still under consideration and any further successful applications will be announced shortly.

The Town and Village Renewal Scheme priorities are reviewed at the end of each scheme year, the review process for the main TVRS scheme is currently at an advanced stage in respect of its focus for 2023. My Department works to ensure that new schemes are structured in a way that ensures clear coherence, shows alignment with key policies such as Our Rural Future and the Town Centre First policy, and that delivers real and tangible benefits for communities I expect to be in a position to launch the 2023 Town and Village Renewal Scheme schemes later this month.

The following table provides a breakdown of the budget allocated to Kildare under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme.

As set out in the table, there has been significant investment under the scheme in Kildare in recent years, and the TVRS Team in my Department will continue to work with Kildare County Council in relation to developing further proposals in future iterations of the scheme.